Legends Of Snowbarry (Vol 2)
by QueenCanarrowDeathstroke
Summary: AU Events: What if Barry had found away to move on from Iris long before he became The Flash? What if met Julian Albert earlier? What if he found himself falling for the beautiful Dr Caitlin Snow? Complete rewrite of The Flash featuring Snowbarry romance and Allenbert friendship.
1. Pilot (1)

_**I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners.**_

 _ **Prologue**_

 _Central City_

"To understand what I'm about to tell you. You need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good. You see that red blur? That's me!" Barry Allen thinks cheerfully to himself as he races down one street, then the next. Than the other street at lighting speed.

Actual lightening speed.

Because. He's Barry Allen.

He is the fastest man alive.

As he runs, Barry thinks to himself of how simple his story really is. Even before he became the fastest man alive he spent most of his life running, usually in his childhood years when he was constantly chased down by bullies left right and centre.

Sometimes, he'd be lucky and he'd escape them. Some days.

Well, some days he wasn't as fortunate and he would be caught and the bullies would, quite frankly beat the crap out of him.

 _Allen Residence_

 _"Tell me what happened, Barry?" Nora Allen asks her young son as she clean his facial wounds carefully._

 _"Those guys were picking on these kids, just because they thought they weren't cool." Barry admits in a quiet voice, looking down once before up at his mom._

 _"It wasn't right." He whispers._

 _"I know." Nora nods in a complete understanding, despite his wounds, proud of her son for trying to stick up for the other kids, even if by doing so he'd made himself a target._

 _"I guess I wasn't fast enough." Barry shrugs his shoulders._

 _"No. No. You have such a good heart Barry and it's better by far to have a good heart then fast legs." Nora points out gently as the sound of the door opening can be heard from behind the two of them, Barry looking up instantly._

 _"Hello? I'm home!" Calls the cheerful voice of Henry Allen as he approaches his wife and son with a beaming smile upon his face, faltering ever so slightly when he sees the cuts and bruises upon his young sons face._

 _"He got into a fight." Nora sighs._

 _"Oh yeah?" Henry winces as he approaches._

 _"And he won!" Nora says with a smile at Barry._

 _He frowns. He didn't win. He couldn't stop those kids from beating him when he tried to protect the other kids._

 _"Ahh. Way to go slugger!" Henry beams at his son before bending down to face him._

 _"No more fighting." He says in a moderately stern tone before kissing his wife, Barry happily watching his parents as they smile warmly at him._

 _Later…_

 _It was nighttime, his mom had read him a bedtime story, she'd tucked him in and switched out the light._

 _A sound had caused him to awaken abruptly, sitting up his eyes immediately lock on the sight of his fish tank. The fish tank that's water is slowly floating upwards to the ceiling…_

 _With a frightened look in his eyes, his races down the stairs at the noise._

 _The noise that just keeps getting louder and louder, followed by the screams of his mom…_

 _"Mom!" Barry cries as he enters the living room to see a red and yellow blur racing around his mother in a circle._

 _"MOM!" Barry screams as she continues to cry out for help._

 _"Mom!" He cries again as his father races into the room._

 _"Nora!" Henry yells toward his wife, engulfed by the circle of red and yellow blur._

 _Turning to his son, Henry grabs both of his arms._

 _"RUN, BARRY, RUN!" He begs as Barry takes only one step backwards._

 _Suddenly, a flash of yellow light engulfs him and he finds himself standing on the street…_

 _The street outside._

 _"Mom!" Barry cries, spinning around hurriedly to view his current location._

 _"Dad!" He yells before doing the only thing he can think off._

 _He runs._

 _Central City_

He's late.

Racing down the street, Barry knows he's late.

Late again.

"Sorry!" He calls as he pushes past people.

Why him. He thinks.

Why does this always happen!

 _Meanwhile…_

"Second robbery this week!" Detective Fred Chyre complains.

"The tiller ID'd Clyde Mardon as the shooter." The other detective. Detective Joe West informs him.

"What? Ohh geez. The Mardon brothers are back?" He sighs with a shake of his head.

"What have we got?" Captain Singh questions as the two detectives approach him.

"Perps took the bank, shot out the cameras and as a chaser, killed the security guard over there." Joe informs him as he hands the Captain the two mug shots of the Mardon brothers.

"I got units kicking in doors of known Mardon brother associates." He adds as the Captain nods before spinning around.

"CSI been over it? I know Albert's on vacation that leaves… Where's Allen?" The Captain snaps as, across the street Barry Allen continues to run down the road, apologising hurriedly to all the people he's all but mowing down on his way to get to the crime scene.

"Sorry, sorry CSI! CSI!" Barry calls as he races into the crime scene and toward Captain Singh and the two detectives.

"Seems like we're going to have to carry on the investigation without him." Captain Singh mutters in annoyance as, right on cue, Barry comes screeching to a halt in front of them.

"Sorry I'm late Captain Singh." He apologises politely.

"What was it this time, Mr. Allen? Did you forget to set your alarm clock?" He questions sarcastically to Barry who shakes his head rapidly.

"And before you answer. I shall remind you of the excuse you gave me last time was car trouble." He folds his arms as Barry closes his eyes in embarrassment.

"Want to know why that one was so particularly memorable?" He reminds him.

"I do not own a car." Barry sighs.

"He was running an error for me." Detective Joe West cuts in quickly, Barry giving him a grateful look.

"Barry, did you get me what I asked for?" Joe turns to him, an expectant look on his face, silence passing as Barry panics a minute.

"Yeah, yeah. I did…" He shoves his hands into his pockets, pulling out a half eaten chocolate bar and handing it to Joe.

"I have it right here." Joe takes it from him with an annoyed expression upon his face.

"I had a few bites of it…" Barry babbles as he looks toward Captain Singh before moving quickly toward the crime scene, getting on his hands and knees, examining the tire tracks he spy's on the ground. Thinking to himself, he quickly analysis it with his eyes.

"Getaway cars a mustang shelby GT five hundred. Shelby's have a rear super wide tire specific to that model, twelve inches with asymmetrical tread. There's something else." Barry notes as he gets to his feet, moving to grab a pen from Detective Chyre before moving back to the tire tracks, thanking the bemused Detective as he takes the pen.

"Fecal excrement. Animal, I'd guess." Barry notes wincing at the smell from the pen as he lifts it out of the crap.

"My dad gave me that pen." Detective Chyre muses as Barry glances at him.

"Before he died." He notes as Barry collects the crap in a sample bag.

"Sorry." Barry winces.

He can never do anything right!

 _CCPD_

At his and his best friend's lab back at the precinct, Barry continues to analyse different aspects of the crime scene. It's his job after all.

He does it with a slight sigh every time he looks over at his best friend, Julian Alberts desk.

Lucky guy being on vacation, leaving only Barry in their lab.

He'd made friends with Julian during his first week at the CCPD.

It had taken some time, the British man not exactly being the most welcoming and neither got on for the first few days, then kindly after closing their first case together, Barry had asked if Julian had wanted to get a drink with him and they'd been friends ever since and over the years their friendship grew to the point where Julian is practically his best friend.

Glancing at his computer, he looks at the pictures of the Mardon brothers, distracted by them for a minute.

"Hey! I am ready to see this atom smasher smashing." Comes the cheerful voice of Iris West, Detective Joe West's daughter. The woman Barry once had unrequited feelings for.

He'd lived with Iris and her father since he was a kid after his father was imprisoned and his mother was murdered and ever since he'd met her he'd had a crush on her.

Yet Iris never realised this and despite Barry's hopes and dreams, she never did.

He's practically almost over it now.

It had taken one Julian Albert to make him realise that, after all these years if something was going to happen between them, it would have done and that he genuinely thought it was odd that Barry would have feelings for a woman, who is practically his sister and after mentioning that factor several times Barry had ended up agreeing with his friend and coming to the realisation that he and Iris are better off as being best friends and seeing her in a sisterly way then continuing to pine for her.

"There was a shooting, your dad needs me to process some evidence, which means I don't know if we'll be able to make it to STAR Labs." Barry sighs miserably as he moves around the lab, mentally cursing Julian's absence once again.

"But seeing this thing turn on is like your dream. Your sad, little nerdy dream. Besides I canceled a date for this." She points out as she takes one of Barry's fries.

"Hands off my fries!" Barry pulls them away from her, shaking his head at her.

"Unbelievable." He mutters, walking back toward his desk.

"I'm stress eating over my dissertation. We started selling cronuts at Jitters. I ate two today! If I don't graduate soon, I'm going to be more muffin top then woman." She takes another fry from Barry's box, as he turns to face her.

"You look amazing." He says kindly as she smiles at him before stealing more fries and picks up one of Barry's magazines.

"What's so important about this particle accelerator anyway?" She frowns.

"Harrison Wells work in quantum theory is light years ahead of anything they're doing at CERN." Barry replies to simply a look of pure confusion from Iris.

"You're doing that thing where you're not speaking English." She points out as Barry sighs.

"Ok." Barry moves to grab a pen from his desk before moving toward his board.

"Just imagine, that, that dot is everything the human race has ever learnt until this moment." Barry draws a dot on the board.

"Does that include twerking?" Iris ponders.

"That…" Barry draws a massive circle on the board.

"Is everything we could learn from the particle accelerator. It's a whole new way of looking at physics. It will literally change the way that we think about everything!" Barry exclaims emphatically as Iris grabs his shoulders.

"You have got to get yourself a girlfriend." She sighs.

"Easier said then done, Iris. Easier said then done." Barry responds.

"Leave him alone, he's working." Joe West says from behind them.

"Hi dad." She smiles at her father before glancing toward Barry's computer.

"Your test thingy is done." She points out as Barry moves toward the computer, glancing at the information he sees on the screen before looking to Joe and Iris who sit behind him.

"I think the Mardon brothers are hiding on a farm. The foecul matter I found on the street, it was cow manure, which contains traces of oxytetracycline. It's an antibiotic. There are only four farms in the area that still use it in their feed. I bet you find a really sweet shelby parked at one of them." Barry passes Joe a map of the narrowed down locations.

"Dad, seeing as Barry solved your poop problem. How about letting him go to STAR Labs?" Iris suggests to get father sweetly.

"Fine. Go." Joe sighs with a smile as both Barry and Iris cheer before racing toward the door.

"Thank you Joe!" Barry calls, grabbing his coat and following Iris out the door…

 _STAR Labs_

"So Barry, how was your trip? Did you find proof of the impossible in Starling City?" Iris asks him as they walk arm in arm through the busy crowds of people.

"Or did you just make my dad mad for no reason?" She smiles, both of them chuckling.

"Actually, while I was away I had a chance to think about relationships. I mean. We can talk about this stuff, you're my best friend Iris." Barry comments.

"You're mine to. Why else would I be here?" Iris reminds him with a smile, Barry laughing at her comment.

"Fair enough, fair enough." Barry says with a shake of his head.

"Of course we can talk about this stuff, we grew up in the same house together and we're practically brother and sister so of course we can talk about this stuff. So. Did you meet a pretty girl?" Iris nudges him.

"Yes. Yes I did. She was very, very beautiful. Smart, so, so smart and I'm pretty sure she was into some other guy." Barry sighs.

"You sure about that Barry?" Iris glances at him.

"Pretty sure, I mean you wouldn't believe me if I told you who the other guy actually was and if you did know. You'd probably see why I never had a chance in hell." Barry mutters.

"Ohh Barry. Don't seek yourself short, any girl would be lucky to have you and if they don't see that. It's their loss. There is nothing I want more than for you to meet the right person that totally loves and adores you for the amazing guy that you are." Iris smiles at him.

"That's nice of you to say." Barry ends up smiling back.

"It's because it's true!" Iris leans into him before glancing up at him again.

"But I do want to know every single detail. Like, who this girl is. What's her name and who the competition is. Let's start with the competition. What's he like?" Iris questions.

"Like I said. You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you but you know that story about those three people who were stranded on a…" Barry stops abruptly as the large crowd bursts into applause as the ceremony begins. Harrison Wells taking to the stage.

"Tell me later." Iris nudges him as they turn to face the front.

"Thank you. My name is Harrison Wells. Tonight, the future begins. The work my team and I will do here will change our understanding of physics. Will bring about advancements and power. Advancements in medicine and trust me that future will be here faster then you think." Harrison Wells addresses the crowd, who instantly begin to applaud, just as a thief takes the opportunity to steal Iris's handbag…

"Hey! My laptop! It's got my dissertation!" Iris cries in horror as the their races away, Barry hearing her cries and instantly racing after the thief, who escapes through the crowds, Barry following him as fast as he can go to get the laptop back for Iris.

The thief jumps over a bush and down a flight of steps as Barry remains in pursuit of him.

"I'm sorry!" Barry calls to a guy he nearly almost knocks over in an attempt remain chasing after the thief.

Racing on and down another street Barry finds himself being promptly smacked in the face by the very same laptop bag the thief had gotten his hands on and is knocked to the ground, looking up at the thief in front of him.

"Hey, kid. You don't have to do this." Barry starts as he tries to get to his feet.

"Alright? Just give me back my friends bag and we'll call it even, okay." He deals.

Thinking for a moment that he's gotten through to the thief. He was wrong.

Instantly, the thief slams the laptop bag into his stomach before taking off running again.

"Barry!" Comes the sudden cry of Iris as she catches up to him.

"Are you okay?" She asks, grabbing his arm.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm good." Barry nods.

Feeling more disappointed then anything else that he couldn't do a thing to get Iris her laptop back to her.

 _Meanwhile…_

After knocking Barry down, the thief had continued on down the road, running quickly with the laptop bag in his hand and jumping over a fence with ease only to be met with by the blinding light of a flashlight.

"Freeze! Freeze! Or do you want to find out the hard way that you're not faster than a bullet?" Comes the voice of the cop holding a gun toward him in front of him.

Standing, confidently in front of the thief with his gun raised, a wide smile crosses the cop, name of Eddie Thawne's face…

 _CCPD_

As Barry sits in a chair, holding a tissue to his bleeding nose, Iris looks over at the cop who'd apprehended the thief, curiosity in her eyes.

"Who is that guy and what is he so proud of. So he caught a mugger." Iris comments.

"He's a transfer from Keystone. Started a few weeks ago. Eddie Thawne. Managed to get on the wrong side of Julian on his first day. I think one of their disputes might be why he's gone on vacation, you know. To get away from that guy." Barry glances toward Eddie Thawne, who's currently being congratulated for his part in stopping the thief.

"Ahh so that's Detective Pretty Boy. That's what my dad calls him, says he actually keeps score when it comes to arrests." Iris tells him, before tilting her head to the side.

"He is pretty though."

 _Somewhere In Central City_

"This is the last farm on Barry's list." Joe comments as he pulls the car to a stop.

"Look, I know the kids smart but you said it yourself. Sometimes he's chasing flying pigs!" Detective Chyre retorts as Joe simply shrugs.

"Well let's check it out anyway."

 _Later..._

"So how is it. The particle accelerator. Nearly time for the big turn on. You got a good view mate?" Comes the cheerful voice of Julian Albert through the phone Barry has to his ear as he heads up the stairs to their lab.

"Nope. Actually I'm back at the lab. Couldn't get to see it. I was there but then Iris…"

"Mate, are you telling me you missed out on the particle accelerator because of Iris West?" Julian questions in a sharp tone of voice.

"Come on, man a guy stole her laptop. I had to do something." Barry protests.

"Allen. If you did that to impress her I swear to bloody god…"

"Ok. Ok don't start threatening me! No. I did it because it was the right think to do and her dissertation was on that laptop." Barry points out.

"Ahh fair enough, mate. Sorry. Just worried you'd started pining for her again." Julian responds as Barry sighs.

"No, Julian. I told you I am over her."

"Yeah, that's good. No, in fact, mate that's great. There was really something not right about that mate, she's practically your sister!"

"Yeah, you've mentioned that. A lot." Barry reminds him.

"And I'll keep doing so if you start pining for her again." Julian retorts sharply.

"I'm not! In fact, I actually met this amazing girl during my trip to Starling City." He replies.

"Yeah, you messaged me about it and that you have no chance in hell with her."

"Yep." Barry sighs.

"Well. I kinda agree, I mean come on mate. You met that guy. He's the second in command to some multi billion dollar company and there's that whole, returned from a five year stay on some island…"

"Julian! This isn't helping." Barry exclaims.

"I'm just stating the facts mate! Anyway, you also said that they're not together so take a chance mate, please. Call her. Do you have her number?" He enquires.

"Yeah, yeah I do…"

"Then what are you doing talking to me then. Phone that woman, now!" He commands.

"Yes sir." Barry sighs.

"Barry." Julian growls.

"What?" Barry asks his friend.

"Your not calling her." Julian notes.

"I'm putting the number in now." Barry protests.

"Um no your not." Julian retorts.

"How do you know I'm not… Ohh god Julian, you haven't hacked into the security cameras again have you?" Barry sighs.

"No I haven't. I just know you're not doing as I ask because you're still on the phone to me!"

"Ahh yes." Barry winces.

"Call that damn woman Allen or I swear to god I will come straight back and…"

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Barry hands up quickly, thinking he hears Julian's note of approval before, with a sigh dialling the number of the woman he'd met in Starling City.

He honestly doesn't trust that Julian hasn't either hacked or put up cameras anywhere!

So he complies, and calls the number.

The number of Felicity Smoak.

"Hi." Comes the sound of her cheery voice.

"Hey!" Barry calls back.

"Did you make it?" She asks.

"Ah yeah I made it back to Central City on time but I missed the cut off in line at STAR Labs. I was late, as usual." He mutters as he opens a door to his own lab.

"But in the spirit of not being late again, uh. If you ever decide that Slade Wilson isn't the guy for you. If you decide that you want to go on a date with… Someone else. Um… You should know that, that guy… He'll be on time." Barry sighs in relief as he manages to finish his statement.

"Good to know." Felicity smiles.

"Oh, hey and I left something for Oliver. Hope he likes it." He finishes.

"Bye Barry." Felicity says quietly.

"Bye. Felicity." He says as she hangs up, Barry still smiling as he sets his own phone down on his desk as he switches on his computer.

"I'm Linda Park and we're live outside STAR Labs. Despite the inclement weather, which is only going to get worse. The torrential downpour has driven away almost all the protesters though STAR Labs CEO, Harrison Wells has assured us that the storm tonight will in no way affect the particle accelerator, which is up and running smoothly." The report says as Barry moves toward a whiteboard, where he glances at his board all to do with his mother's death with a sad look in his eyes as the storm continues on outside…

 _Somewhere In Central City_

Walking into the farm, Joe and Chyre walk in, both armed as they do so.

Looking around for any sign of the Mardon brothers.

Approaching a car covered with a cloth, Joe pulls the cloth away to reveal the exact car Barry said would be there.

"Mardon…" Joe starts just as the gunfire begins from above as one of the Mardon brothers begin to shoot at Joe and Chyre from a tall tower of haystacks, both cops moving instantly to avoid being shot at, shooting back as quickly as they can.

Moving from his place of cover, Joe shoots at the assailant, who jumps from the haystack.

"I've got a plane to catch!" Mardon yells as he continues to shoot at Joe and Chyre before making his escape, both Joe and Chyre waiting until the gunfire has finally ceased before chasing after the man.

"The hell!" Chyre yells, running out of the barn first only to be shot down by the Mardon. Joe shooting hurriedly back but it's too late, the Mardon has already gotten to the helicopter waiting for him outside and Joe is too worried about his partner to even think about catching Mardon.

"Chyre, hang in their!" Joe begs but it's too late.

His partner is dead…

 _CCPD_

"Wait… We are now being told to evacuate the facility." The report continues as Barry spins around to glance at the computer.

"The storm may have caused a malfunction to the primary cooling system. Officials are now trying to shut down the particle accelerator but so far have been unable to regain control of the system…" Suddenly, the power shuts down, Barry glancing up at the window just in time to see an explosions happening exactly where STAR Labs is...

A explosion which causes a wave to fly outwards, knocking out all of the electricity all over Central City.

Moving quickly into the centre of the room, Barry grabs the chain that is used to shut the roof up as the rain is pouring into his lab.

However the minute he begins to tug on the chain, all liquids in his lab begin to rise out of their beakers and into the air...

Barry look up in time just to see a lighting bolt shatter his windows…

The last thing he sees is the lighting bolt as he too is struck by it and sent crashing down to the ground.

A trail of red electricity flowing up the side of his face…

 _Central City Hospita_ l

Hurriedly, doctors, nurses, paramedics and more medical professionals race down the corridor of a hospital, transporting a patient.

A patient struck by lighting.

Barry Allen…

"What the hell happened to him?" One doctor asks.

"He was hit by lightning!" Another answers as he's wheeled down the corridor.

"How is he still alive?" Someone else asks as Barry is transported to a bed.

"He's coding!" Someone yells, a hurried mix of different medical jargon being thrown about as they fight to save his life whilst Iris watches in horror.

"Barry!" She cries as the nurses approach her.

"You can't be in here." They inform her sadly.

"I can't leave him!" Iris sobs for the man she sees as a brother, watching as the medical professionals try to save his life.

"BARRY!"

 _STAR Labs: Nine Months Later…_

He can hear… He can hear music.

Not just music.

Lady Gaga.

It's Poker Face.

He really likes this song, it's catchy.

"What are you doing?" A cold female voice questions.

"He likes this song." An unfamiliar voice make speaks in response.

"How could you possibly know that?" The woman queries.

"I checked his Facebook page. I mean, he can hear everything, right." The man points out.

"The auditory functions are the less sensory facilities to degenerate." The woman speaks again as he can hear the man start to sing along with the song.

If he could speak, if he could even move he'd be singing along and dancing too.

Suddenly he finds he can open both his eyes fully and he sits up with a gasp…

"Where am I?" Are the first words out of his mouth.

"Ohh my god!" Comes the surprised call of the man with the longish dark brown hair in front of him and immediately at his side, speaking in such a hurried tone.

Is e woman with brown hair and warm brown eyes…

He doesn't know what happened but what he does know is that this woman is standing right beside him and she's beautiful.

He was in an accident…

Has he died and gone to heaven? And an angel is stood before him?

"Dr. Wells get down to the cortex, like right now." The man calls through the comms as the beautiful woman continues to speak in a hurried tone.

He tries to move out of the path of the light she's shining in his eyes.

"Look at me, look at me!" She calls to get his attention.

"Are you an angel?" He questions groggily as his vision starts to get even clearer.

"Hey, hey, woah relax. Everything's okay man, you're at STAR Labs." The man explains, grabbing his arm.

"STAR Labs?" Barry murmurs.

So he's not dead and in heaven. He's in STAR Labs…

Unless STAR Labs is his version of heaven, he wouldn't be surprised.

"Who. Who are you?" Barry glances at the man.

"I'm Cisco Ramon and by the way, you're not dead or in heaven, your in STAR Labs. The woman you thought was an angel is actually just my friend Caitlin. Dr. Snow." He glances over at the woman beside Barry.

The angel has a name.

Caitlin Snow.

 ** _Authors Note: Hey guys thank you so much for reading the prologue to this. I am writing this story to tie in with my Arrow AU story, Legends Of Canarrow as I've had readers ask me if I was going to write an AU for The Flash and I decided I shall as I'm a big Snowbarry shipper and loved the Allenbert friendship. The next chapter won't be posted until I've finished the season 2 part of Arrow for Legends Of Canarrow as the Flash is of course set in early season 3 of Arrow. But thank you all so much for reading the first chapter of this, please tell me what you all thought and leave a review if you can._**


	2. Pilot (2)

_**I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners.**_

 _ **Chapter Two**_

 _STAR Labs_

Barry knows he's staring at her.

He can't help himself.

He needs to stop staring.

Why is he always so awkward? He thinks to himself as the angelic woman…

Caitlin Snow. Dr. Snow holds a plastic cup up to his face.

"I need you to urinate in this." She commands in a cold voice.

Out of all the scenarios Barry had dreamt of about meeting beautiful women. Said beautiful woman shoving a plastic cup in his face and telling him to urinate in it wasn't one of them.

"Not this second." The other man, Cisco Ramon pulls the cup out of her hands.

"What is happening? What's going on?" Barry questions. Just wanting some answers as to why he is here.

In STAR Labs of all places.

"You were struck by lightning, dude." Cisco responds emphatically.

"What. What?" Barry raises his eyebrow at him in confusion, finding himself spinning around in a circle, finding himself standing in front of a mirror, where upon seeing his reflection, his jaw nearly hits the floor.

"Lighting gave me abs?" He says slowly, unsure if he should be scared, nervous, freaking the hell out or rejoicing that finally, he has abs!

"Your muscles should be atrophied but instead they're in a chronic state of cellular regeneration." Dr. Snow informs him, Barry's eyes widening as she returns to his side, her soft but firm fingers at his shoulders, his neck, the top of his chest...

"Come here. Have a seat." Cisco suddenly drags him back by the shoulders. Barry biting down on his tongue to keep him from moaning in displeasure at being ripped away from Dr. Snow and her wandering fingers. Nope he was not enjoying that! Not at all…

"You were in a coma." Cisco continues, causing Barry to break free of his rather distracted mind to focus on the words Cisco had spoken.

"Coma?" He starts slowly, shaking his head to clear all thoughts. To focus himself completely on finding out why he's here.

"For how long?" He enquires.

"Nine months." A different voice calls from a different area of the room.

Barry spins around and nearly falls off his sitting spot at the familiar voice.

"Welcome back Mr. Allen." Harrison Wells calls from the door.

Harrison Wells… Harrison Wells. CEO of STAR Labs.

Barry frowns at the sight of him.

He's in a wheelchair.

"We have a lot to discuss." He continues.

Barry knows he's staring again.

This time for completely different reasons.

This time in genuine amazement and awe.

He has just met Harrison Wells.

"Come on, Mr. Allen." He calls as he turns his chair in a complete 360 spin and heads back out of the door.

"Go on. He won't bite." Cisco knocks his shoulder as it hits Barry that Harrison Wells wants him to follow him.

He'd be lying completely if he said he didn't fall off his sitting spot in his mad dash to get to his feet, moving quickly after the man he has admired for so long.

"Wait!" Comes the call of Dr. Snow as she moves toward him, something folded up in her hands, she passes it to him.

"What's this?" He frowns, glancing up at her as she tilts her head to the side.

"It's a shirt. Something, you didn't have upon till now." She remarks, moving past him, Barry watching after her.

"Mr. Allen!" He hears Harrison Wells call his name again.

Pulling the shirt over his head, Barry moves quickly out into the corridor.

"It's hard to believe I'm actually here. I mean, I've always wanted to meet you face to face." He starts to babble as he reaches Harrison Wells, walking along side him.

"Yeah? Well you certainly went to great lengths to do it." He retorts.

"It actually wasn't intentional." Barry winces awkwardly as Wells glances at him with a slight smirk before gesturing with his hand toward the corridor.

"STAR Labs has not been operational since FEMA categorized us as a class four hazardous location following the incident with the particle accelerator, in which seventeen people died that night." He explains to a rather shocked Barry as they pass a cage, that appears to have been ripped apart, a yellow sign with the word 'Grodd' hanging off of it.

"Many more were injured, myself amongst them." He continues as he directs them toward a balcony, which Barry looks over, paling at what he sees.

"Jesus." He whispers at the sight of the destruction below.

The remnants of the particle accelerator.

"What happened?" He exclaims.

"Nine months ago. The particle accelerator went online exactly as planned. For forty five minutes I had achieved my life's dream and then… Then there was an anomaly." He muses.

You think? Barry wants to say as he turns to face Wells once more.

"The electron volts became unmeasurable, the ring under us popped. Energy from that detonation was thrown into the sky and that in turn, seeded a storm cloud…"

"That created a lightning bolt that struck me?" Barry finishes for him.

"That's right." Wells responds as Barry looks down.

Unsure of what to think right now in all honesty.

"I was recovering myself when I heard about you. The hospital was undergoing unexplainable power outages every time you were going into cardiac arrest, which was actually a misdiagnosis, because you see, you weren't flatlining, Barry. Your heartbeat was moving too fast for the EKG to register it. Now, I'm not the most popular person in town these days but Detective West, his daughter gave me permission to bring you here. There was a debate, a rather large one with them and I think he's a friend of yours? About it as said friend, well. It's as I said. I'm not the most popular person in town…"

"Was he British?" Barry enquires as he follows Wells back into the room he'd awoken in.

"Yes. I think he was." Wells replies.

"Then yep. He's my friend and he can be…"

"Stubborn? Unwilling to see past what I'd done? And blamed me for your accident and I quote believed you could be dead the minute you were even in spitting distance of STAR Labs?" Wells glances at him.

"That sounds like Julian." Barry nods.

"Well luckily, for you. Detective West and his daughter won out and you were brought here and we were able to stabilize you." He finishes as Barry smiles at the thought of his adoptive family, even at the thought of his best friend.

He knows he was probably only looking out for him as Barry is pretty certain, if the roles were reversed he'd do the same.

"The three of them came to visit you quite often. As did a certain blonde from Starling City." He smirks at Barry who's eyes widen.

"Felicity?!" He asks quickly.

"Yes, she came to see you quite often, Mr. Allen. They all did."

"And they talked a lot." Dr. Snow cuts in, she and Cisco appearing from behind them as she moves, iPad in one hand, drink in the other, the latter she passes to Wells.

"Also, you're adoptive sister is hot." Cisco calls as Barry spins around to face, him raising an eyebrow at him.

"In hind sight that was probably not the most appropriate thing I could've said but hey! Felicity was here loads. I mean, that's gotta be a sign. A good sign. I mean she left Starling City the city of so much awesomeness to travel hundreds of miles just to see you. She even asked about you the last time we were in Starling City. Actually, about that. I gotta tell you this…"

"No you don't Cisco." Caitlin says sharply.

"Hey. It was awesome and you were the one who actually got to go with The Man In The Mask to locate the centrifuge." Cisco reminds her as Barry folds his arms.

"It wasn't as exciting as he makes it out to be." Caitlin murmurs.

"Ohh trust me it was. We got attacked by someone who looked like The Man In The Mask…"

"Cisco it was so obvious it was a women." Caitlin interjects.

"With the exact same suit as The Man In The Masks. Turns out it wasn't anyway and the legit Man In The Mask ended up showing up, expect it was a little disappointing as the Arrow and the Black Canary weren't there with him but the legit Man In The Mask was there and because I thought he was the attacker, I spin around with my weapon an yell 'I'll kill your half orange ass!" Cisco exclaims causing a smile to appear on Barry's face.

"Half orange ass?" Barry folds his arms.

"Yeah cause you know, his mask is black and orange." Cisco shrugs causing Barry to continue smiling, trying not to laugh and considering he knows The Man In The Mask and who's underneath it, he guesses that didn't go down well!

"And that's just the short version." Cisco grins.

"Well. I'll be happy to listen later but you know, right now. I. I need to go." Barry starts to move toward the door.

"No you can't!" Dr. Snow calls after him.

"Caitlin's right. Now that you're awake, we need to do more tests. You're still going through changes, there's so much that we don't know." Wells turns his chair around to face Barry, who backs quickly toward the door.

"Oh. I'm fine, really. I feel completely normal. Thank you for saving my life, all of you." He smiles briefly, glancing toward Dr. Snow one last time before racing out of the room.

It's all too much.

He just got out of nine month coma.

He needs to find his family.

Joe, Iris, Julian.

Meanwhile, after watching Barry practically fall out of the room, Caitlin glares down at Wells in somewhat annoyance at basically scaring Barry off.

"Really?" She scolds him.

"I'm sorry. I hoped he'd be as enthusiastic at finding out what happened to him as we are." He shrugs as Caitlin folds her arms.

"Yes, because that's the first thing he'd want to be focusing on after waking up from a nine month coma and as for you." She turns toward Cisco a frosty look in her eyes, which melts away as soon as it arrives as Barry renters the room.

Each of them looking up at him, slightly hopeful that he's changed his mind and decided to stay so they can gently coax him into having a couple of tests done.

"Can I keep the sweatshirt?" Is actually what he asks.

"Yeah, keep the sweatshirt." Wells mutters as Barry nods.

"Okay." He smiles before darting out of the room again.

 _Jitters_

Walking through the obstacle course of tables in the café she waitresses at, Iris West fills coffee cups with a cheery smile, stopping to speak to some of the customers, just being bright and happy as she moves from table to table.

Yet as she's just placing one of the kettles she has in her hand down, she's grateful she had done as she's pretty sure she would have dropped it if she hadn't. She sees a familiar face walking straight towards her.

Barry…

Her adoptive brother Barry who has been in a coma for over nine months.

Walking. Walking straight toward her.

"Oh my god." She whispers as she throws herself into his arms, tears in her eyes as she holds him tightly, smiling as he lifts her up slightly, just happy for him to be here in general as he releases her, smiling even wider at her reaction to seeing him awake for the first time in nine months, Barry is guessing.

"You're awake! Why didn't STAR Labs call us?" She muses.

"I just woke up." Barry admits.

"Should you even be on your feet?" Iris questions in that instant, the overprotective sister side of her appearing fast, causing Barry to smile even wider.

There were times he thought her overprotective side was annoying, not this time. He'll let her have this one.

"Iris. I'm okay." He responds, not really sure what else he can say to her.

"I watched you die, Barry. You kept dying, your heart kept stopping…" She trails off as Barry picks up one of her hands and places it over his heart.

"It's still beating." He continues to smile at her.

"It's really fast." Iris remarks as suddenly everything feels as if it's going into slow motion.

Literally, slow motion as from behind Iris another waitress drops her tray, which crashes to the ground. The minute the tray hits the floor, the sensation is over.

"Are you okay, Tracy?" Iris questions kindly.

"Yeah I got it." The waitress responds as Iris turns back to Barry, who's a little bit confused about what the hell just happened.

"My dad and Julian are going to be so happy to see you. We'll go to them now, let me grab my stuff, okay. I'll be right back." She grins, moving away from him as Barry still tries to go over it in his head.

Why did things feel like they were in slow motion?

After effects of a nine month coma? Yeah, Barry thinks to himself.

That's probably it.

 _Central City Bank_

"How can I help you today?" A woman on the front desk asks a man in a black cap who walks toward her, dropping a note onto the desk.

"This is a robbery?" She frowns as she reads it.

"Is this supposed to be a joke?" She glares at the man who'd given it to her.

"You tell me." He replies before backing away from the desk, lifting his hands and the minute he does so, fog begins to appear from nowhere, billowing from the man's hands, the stain glass ceiling caving in…

 _CCPD_

"Oh you scared the hell out of us, kid." Joe West beams widely as he holds Barry close to him in a tight, loving embrace.

"Yeah that was quite the nap you took there, baby face and you still look twelve." Another officer remarks causing Joe and Iris to snigger.

"You look okay, are you really?" Joe grabs his shoulders.

"Yeah." Barry nods quickly.

"Detective West, we got a five fifty in progress at Gold City Bank. Two dead, storms picking up on the south side. I'd grab your rain gear." Another officer informs Joe.

"Sorry, Barry I gotta run." Joe pats his shoulder as he moves away.

"Do you need my help?" Barry enquires.

"No, you take it easy. There'll be plenty for you to do once you settle in. Let's go, partner!" He calls across the room to another detective.

One Barry has in fact met before, the new guy, Eddie Thawne.

Well, the new guy nine months ago.

"Hey, Allen, glad to see you." He smiles at him.

"Thanks Eddie." Barry nods as Eddie glances toward Iris.

"Hey Iris." He gives her a secret smile.

"Detective, you should go. My dad doesn't like to be kept waiting." She responds coldly.

"Glad your back." Eddie pats him roughly on the shoulder before leaving the room, Barry watching him go, but as he looks around the room, his eyes fall on something in a glass box.

"Oh, the night of the explosion, Clyde Mardon shot and killed Chyre. Mardon and his brother died escaping, their plane crashed." Iris informs him the minute she sees him looking at the memorial to Chyre.

"Hey Iris, got a minute?" An officer calls toward her.

"Barry!" A familiar voice calls from the top of the stairs.

"Hey Julian." Barry smiles at his best friend, who begins to leg it down the stairs, going so fast that half way down he trips and falls down the rest of the way.

"Beautiful, Julian. That was beautiful." Barry laughs as Julian scrambles to his feet.

"Careful, Allen. I'll put you back in that coma if your not careful, come here mate." He smiles, pulling Barry into a quick embrace.

Barry can count on one hand the amount of times he and Julian have ever hugged.

"I can't believe it mate, thank god. Oh thank god." Julian smiles at him.

"It's good to see you to. Already got stuff to tell you." Barry grins.

"Yeah you do. Like what happened? I mean I get it you got stuck by bloody lightning but seriously, mate. What do you remember, do you remember anything. Sorry, sorry. I know you just woke up this is probably the last thing you want right now."

"No, it's ok." Barry smiles at him reassuringly.

"I'm just so glad you're here mate. Never thought I'd see you again. Don't you ever do that to me again, do you hear me Allen? Because trust me I can think of things far worse to inflict on you than a lightening bolt!" Julian scolds him.

"Yeah. I never plan on getting hit by lightning ever again so you don't have to worry about that." Barry smiles again.

"That's good to hear." Julian nods, patting Barry's shoulder.

"Be right back mate." He adds, moving across to the other side of the room.

"Hey, Barry. Good to see you." An officer calls from across the room, Barry smiling back, only until he sees the prisoner they have reaching out for one of the officers guns.

Then suddenly in a flash, he doesn't.

"Screw you!" The prisoner snarls as he's forced into another room.

"You okay mate?" Julian frowns at the shocked look upon Barry's face as he tries to get his head around what just happened.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I just need some air. I'll call you tonight, we'll meet up. Or I'll come back to the lab. The lab survived didn't it?" He questions.

"Just about." Julian folds his arms.

"Good, good." Barry nods before racing out of the door, clutching onto his hand as he does so. His vibrating hand…

 _Moments Later…_

Getting out of the building via the back door, Barry glances around to make sure no one is around before lifting his vibrating hand up so he can look at it.

"What's happening to me?" He whispers to himself, clutching his wrist tightly as his hand continues to vibrate.

However the minute he attempts to move he is suddenly near the wall of another building.

Attempting to move again, he ends up flying into the window of a police car, which shatters under his weight.

Gasping as he regains his footing, despite how genuinely terrified he is, a part of him wants to explore whatever is happening to him further and a smile crosses his face as he turns in the direction of the alleyway and begins to run.

Suddenly he's going faster than ever.

Everything he passes, almost a complete blur.

Screaming all the way.

His journey ends in the back of an open van when he crashes straight into it.

A confused man, whom had been loading the van pulls the bags back to reveal a rather confused, scared yet strangely exhilarated Barry, who finds himself grinning as he sits up.

"Awesome."

 _Airstrip_

"You don't really believe he can run that fast, do you?" Caitlin questions skeptically.

"Well, I believe anything is possible and in a few minute maybe you will too." Wells replies as Cisco jogs toward the van.

"How does it fit?" He calls as Barry exits the van wearing a rather tight and rather embarrassing red costume, equipped with knee pads and a red helmet with goggles.

"It's a little snug." Barry tilts his head to the side.

"At least you'll be moving so fast, no one will see you." Cisco notes but Barry doesn't care.

The damage has already been done!

He's dressed like this in front of Caitlin Snow.

He smiles through the embarrassment.

"See, you thought the world was slowing down. It wasn't. You were moving so fast, it only looked like everyone else was standing still. Dr. Wells will be monitoring your energy output and Caitlin your vitals." Cisco explains.

"What do you do?" Barry asks.

"I make the toys, man. Check it, this is a two way headset with a camera I modified, typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noise, or in your case, potential sonic booms, which would be awesome." He grins happily before taking the helmet away from Barry to attach the circular devices with the golden lightening bolt on them.

Suddenly, Caitlin is at his side, pressing buttons on the outfit he's wearing, not even looking at him as she reads the data on her iPad.

"What?" She mutters in a cool tone of voice.

Barry freezes. She'd been looking at her iPad, how could she tell he was looking at her?

Barry looks away immediately and nervously before looking at her stern face.

"Nothing." He shakes his head, quickly and still nervously before regaining enough courage to point something out.

"I just notice you don't smile too much."

He bets her smile would be a beautiful one.

She looks up at him after his comment, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"My once promising career in bioengineering is over. My boss is in a wheelchair for life. The explosion that put you in a coma also killed my fiancé."

She had a fiancé…

"So this blank expression kind of feels like the way to go." She finishes.

"I'm sorry." Barry starts to say.

"Don't be. Wasn't your fault." She murmurs as she walks away from him.

She lost her fiancé to that explosion nine months ago.

A man, Barry assumes she must have been in love with.

After her words he tries to put all thoughts of how taken he has started to become with her out of his head.

That's probably why she was trying not to look at him.

Constant reminder of what happened that day.

That he survived the explosion and the man she loved didn't.

Yes, he needs to stop thinking about her in any other way than a person he has to be acquainted with to figure out what the explosion has caused him to become.

"Mr. Allen, while I am extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities. I do caution restraint." Wells calls over to him.

"Yeah." Barry nods, putting the goggles over his head before heading to start up.

Once he's in position, he looks back toward Cisco, who's holding a reader in his hand, Caitlin with her iPad and Wells, who places sunglasses over his eyes.

Then he just lets go, running with enough force it throws Cisco backwards and almost causes the tent to capsize.

"He just passed two hundred knots per hour." Cisco remarks with a grin, Caitlin having placed her iPad down to grab binoculars in shock at what she's just seen.

"It's not possible." She whispers when she can find the words, all of them just watching Barry in amazement as he runs faster than humanly possible.

 _Allen Residence_

 _"Mom!" Barry screams as she is engulfed by red and yellow lightning, which circles around her in a rapid red and yellow blur._

 _"No, Barry!" She cries out toward him._

 _"Mom!" He continues to cry._

 _"No. No don't! Don't let him touch you!" She screams as through the blur Barry catches a glimpse of him._

 _The Man In Yellow._

 _Now_

The memory freezes him mid run and before he knows it he's crashing into a line of barrels with a surprised cry, where he just lies, groaning out in pain from his apparently broken wrist.

 _CCPD_

"What is all this?" Captain Singh questions as he approaches Joe.

"Witnesses from the robbery at Gold City Bank. Perp made off with two hundred grand more or less." He explains.

"The windows blew in. It was like a hurricane, everyone ran for cover." The woman who'd been the one to receive the note at the desk recounts to Eddie Thawne, who gives her a sympathetic smile.

"We're gonna have a sketch artist work with you, if you feel up to it." He responds, nodding to the sketch artist behind him before getting to his feet and moving toward Joe.

"Third robbery in a month where a freak storm proceeds it. Sounds like one of those Wide World Of Weird cases Barry's obsessed with." He sniggers.

"He's not obsessed." Joe sighs.

"Guess you haven't read his blog." Eddie retorts.

"So he's interested in a wide variety of different things. No problem in that is there Thawne." Julian mutters from behind him.

"It's Detective Thawne actually and come on Albert, you don't believe anything you don't see with your own eyes." Eddie folds his arms.

"It's called being supportive of your friends. I'm sure if you had any friends you'd understand, Thawne." He mumbles.

"Excuse me, Albert. I actually do have friends…"

"Ok. Ok! Cool it guys. Now, is there anything either of you can tell me about the security cameras at the bank?" Joe questions.

"They were all shorted out. Went over them myself." Julian responds.

"Well, we got a bunch of witnesses here." Joe points out glancing toward Julian, who nods and begins to approach them as Eddie frowns causing Joe to sigh.

"They all have cell phones."

 _Later…_

"They sky went black and then, boom, outside was inside, man it was like there was a thunderstorm in the bank!" One of the eye witnesses, who'd caught the robbery on camera explains to Eddie whilst Joe and Julian go over the footage.

"Suspect is driving a black mustang, partial plate six kilo Charlie three. Put out an APB." Joe calls suddenly toward one of the officers.

"Copy that."

 _STAR Labs_

"It looks like you had a distal radius fracture." Caitlin informs Barry as she shows him the X-ray of his hand.

"Had?" Barry frowns at her choice of words.

"It's healed. In three hours." She replies, showing him the newest image of his hand.

"How is that even possible?" Barry shakes his head in shock as Caitlin looks down.

"We don't know. Yet." She adds quickly before moving away.

"You really need to learn how to stop." Cisco shows him the rather battered helmet.

"What happened out there today? You were moving pretty well and then something caused you to lose focus." Wells questions as Barry clenches his hands together.

"I started remembering something." Barry admits to silence as Wells gives him an expectant look as if to prompt him to continue, which he does.

"When I was eleven my mother was murdered." He admits causing Cisco to stop working instantly looking up at him with a sympathetic expression on his face. Even Caitlin stops what she's doing to glance over at Barry.

"It was late. The sound woke me up. I came downstairs and I saw what looked like a ball of lightening, inside the lightening there was a man, he killed my mom. They arrested my dad. He's still sitting in Iron Heights for her murder. Everyone, the cops, the shrinks they all told me what I saw was impossible but what if the man who killed my mom was like me?" Barry questions as Wells sighs before admitting to Barry.

"Well, I think I can say unequivocally, you are one of a kind."

Barry closes his eyes.

Even now, with what's he's become people still don't believe him.

 _Jitters_

"Can I help you Detective?" Iris questions in a hard voice as she walks toward where Eddie is sat, just outside of Jitters.

"You can stop acting like you can't stand me when your dad's around." He smiles up at her.

"Aww. I like having a boyfriend who isn't shot to death." She grins back, stroking his cheek with one hand before leaning into kiss him, smiling happily at him as he rests his hand on her arm, just as in the corner of her eye she sees that Barry had been watching them the whole time.

 _Later…_

"You can't tell my dad. He doesn't know about me and Eddie." Iris sighs as she and Barry walk alongside one another.

"Doesn't seem like anyone's in on the secret." He retorts.

"I was gonna tell you, when you were in the hospital, Eddie covered my father's shifts so we could both be with you. I thanked him with a cup of coffee and things just kind of happened and it's good." She beams happily at Barry.

"On no Iris, I'm not judging, I'm really happy for you, I mean listen to this. I wake up at STAR Labs and the first thing I see is…" Barry is cut off by the sound of sirens and tires squealing as an CCPD squad car almost runs into them, Barry instantly grabbing Iris and pulling them out of harms way as the car crashes exactly where they were standing, Barry sitting up just as a car zooms by, the car that crashed into the squad car.

Instantly he is running toward it with his new found speed, using it to throw himself through the car window and into the passenger seat.

The driver looks exactly like Clyde Mardon…

Suddenly, he reaches for his gun, Barry instantly grabbing the wheel of the car, managing to flip the car over, causing it to flip and roll around on the road, Barry crawling out of the now shattered windows with a groan.

"Hey! Mardon!" Barry yells as he sees him walking into the street, he turns around in an instant, holding his hands out which begin to emit fog that engulfs the entire road until all Barry can see is fog and can only hear the sound of a cars horn before it collides with the abandoned car and explodes, Barry once again using his speed to throw himself clear of the explosion, whilst crawling backwards, a sad expression on his face when he realises that an innocent, who was in the car has been killed.

 _Later…_

"That poor man." Iris shakes her head as the body is wheeled passed both she and Barry.

"The way that fog came in, I have never seen anything like it." She muses.

"Barry! Iris!" Comes the sudden yell of Joe West as he races toward them both.

"I'm alright dad." Iris gives him a reassuring smile.

"What the hell were you thinking having her out here?" He shakes his head at Barry.

"And you. I told you, when you see danger you run the other way, you're not a cop." He scolds Iris to.

"You wouldn't let me!" She retorts.

"You're damn right!"

"We need to talk." Barry interjects quickly.

"It can wait." Joe snaps.

"No, now." Barry says sternly, Joe following him as they move to one side.

"I know who did this. It's Clyde Mardon. I know, everybody thinks he died in a plane crash after the STAR Labs explosion, but he's alive. Right, something happened to him that night. I. I think he can control the weather. The recent robberies, they all happened during freak meteorological events and when I just confronted Mardon, the street was instantly enveloped in fog." Barry trails off as he sees Joe's disbelieving face.

"Of course you don't believe me. You never believe me." Barry mutters resentfully.

"Okay. You want to do this now? Out here? Fine. Mardon is dead. There is no controlling the weather, Barry. Just like there was no lightning storm in your house that night. It was your brain helping a scared little boy accept what he saw!" Joe exclaims.

"My dad did not…"

"Yes he did! Your dad killed your mother, Barry. I am sorry, son but I knew it, the jury knew it and he's paying for what he did!" He snaps at Barry angrily.

"Dad enough!" Iris cuts in sharply.

"Iris." He growls at her before turning instantly back to Barry.

"Now I have done my best to take care of you since that night and I've never asked for anything in return. Not even a thank you but what I do ask now is that you for once in your life see things as they are!" He shouts as a sad look crosses Barry's face, who once Joe had finished simply turned and walked away.

'Are you okay?!' Eddie mouths to Iris as he approaches the two. She nods, squeezing his arm briefly as she walks away, leaving Eddie to approach Joe with the sketch the witness managed to produce for them.

"You're not going to believe this. We got the eyewitness sketch of the robber from the bank job." He places the piece of paper in Joe's hand.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that's Clyde Mardon, but that's impossible. He's dead, right?"

 _STAR Labs_

"I wasn't the only one affected by the particle accelerator explosion, was I?" Barry begins to shout the minute he enters the room he'd awoken in back at STAR Labs.

"We don't know for sure." Wells admits after glancing toward Caitlin and Cisco.

"You said the city was safe, that there was no residual danger but that's not true. What really happened that night?" Barry exclaims, watching as Wells glances toward Caitlin and Cisco again.

"Well, the accelerator went active. We all felt like heroes and then, it all went wrong." He pulls an image up on the screen behind Barry's head, who turns to look at it.

"The dimensional barrier ruptured unleashing unknown energies into our world. Antimatter, dark energy, X-elements…"

"Those are all theoretical." Barry cuts in.

"And how theoretical are you? We mapped the dispersion throughout and around Central City though we have no way of knowing exactly what, or who was exposed. We've been searching for other metahumans like yourself." He reveals to Barry.

"Metahumans?" Barry raises an eyebrow at him.

"That's what we're calling them." Caitlin speaks up.

"Well, I saw one today. He's a bank robber and he can control the weather…"

"This just keeps getting cooler!" Cisco practically cheers.

"This is not cool. All right, a man died!" Barry snaps causing Cisco to fall instantly silent.

"Mardon must have gotten his powers the same way I did, from the storm cloud. He's still out there and we have to stop him before he hurts anyone else." Barry proclaims.

"Barry. There's a job for the police." Wells calls to him as he heads for the door.

"Yeah, I work for the police." Barry snaps back.

"As a forensic assistant." Wells points out.

"You're responsible for this, for him…"

"What's important is you! Not me, I lost everything. I lost my company, I lost my reputation. I lost my freedom and then you broke your arm and it healed in three hours, inside your body could be a map to a whole new world. Genetic therapies, vaccines, medicines, treasures buried deep within your cells and we cannot risk losing everything because you want to go out and play hero. Your not a hero." Wells snaps sharply.

"You're just a young man who was stuck by lightening."

 _Allen Residence_

 _Racing toward his house, Barry frowns as he sees the cop cars outside his home but doesn't pay them much attention._

 _He needs to get to his mom._

 _"I didn't do it. I swear to god, I didn't do this!" Barry hears his dad hiss as cops lead him out of their home._

 _"Dad, why are they taking you?" Barry calls to him._

 _"Barry don't go in the house." Henry cries to his son._

 _"Where mom?" Barry cried as Henry continues to speak to the officers, anyone who will listen to him._

 _"What will happen to my son?"_

 _"Dad!" Barry cries as his dad is forced into the back of the cop car._

 _"Barry! Stay out of the house Barry!" He yells as he watches helplessly as his young son turns and runs straight toward the front door._

 _"Joe, you know these people?" He hears one of the cops ask his best friend Iris West's dad._

 _"My daughter's best friends with their kid." He hears Joe sigh._

 _"I'm sorry. The officer responds as they walk away from something on the ground, that is covered with a blue plastic sheet._

 _Seeing the familiar hand poking out of the blue sheet, Barry is over there in seconds._

 _"Mom…" He whispers as he pulls back the blue sheet to reveal his mother, her eyes glassy._

 _"Barry." He hears Joe's voice before he feels the gentle hand on his shoulder._

 _"Mom!"_

 _Now_

With tears in his eyes, Barry stops running and comes to a screeching halt right outside a road sign that is labelled 'Starling City'.

He ran the whole way to Starling City.

The smell of smoke fills his nose soon afterwards and he pulls off his jacket that has began to spark with slight flames before looking up at the sign.

Five miles left to Starling City…

 _Starling City: A Rooftop_

"So that's my story. I've spent my whole life searching for the impossible. Never imagining that I would become the impossible." He finishes with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And you decided to bother us about it?" The Man In The Mask folds his arms.

"Slade, be nice." The Black Canary scolds him before moving to hug Barry.

"I'm just glad your okay." She says.

"It's good to see you too Sara." Barry smiles.

"Why did you come to us?" The Arrow questions.

"Something tells me you didn't just run six hundred miles to say hi to friends."

"Exactly you didn't have to bother." The Man In The Mask retorts.

"I see you haven't changed." Barry sighs.

"I'd say the same about you, Allen but it's apparent in one way at least, you have changed." The Man In The Mask murmurs.

"Ok. You two. Slade would it physically hurt you to be nice to Barry, once?" The Black Canary sighs at The Man In The Mask.

"Carry on, Barry." The Arrow encourages him.

"All my life I've wanted to just do more. Be more and now I am and the first chance I get to help someone I screw up." Barry admits.

"Ha. You're reminding me of the kid." The Man In The Mask snorts.

"Hey." The Arrow protests.

"Ohh come on kid, when I first met you, you were always screwing up, but look at you now. You're the Arrow, a hero and I could not be more proud of you, kid. Allen. We weren't always like this. We had to train, we had to learn, push ourselves to the limit to get where we are now. You're inexperienced, you've just received these abilities. It will take time for you to learn how to use them without making a complete mess off everything and I can't believe I'm saying this but if this kid, a spoilt billionaire rich boy could become what he is now. Then Allen, even you have a chance of doing the same." The Man In The Mask tells him as both the Arrow and the Black Canary look to him.

"You know I think that's the nicest thing you have ever said to Barry." The Arrow notes.

"Just want to get this over with or else Roy'll be here berating me for missing another movie night." He grumbles.

"Ohh come on, you love them really." The Black Canary nudges him as Barry smiles slightly.

"Thank you, though Slade for the vote of confidence but what if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero? What if I'm just some guy who was stuck by lightning?" He questions.

"I don't think that bolt of lightning stuck you Barry." The Arrow starts.

"I think it chose you."

"I'm just not sure I'm like you three. I don't know if I can be some vigilante." He admits.

"That's because you can be better than us Barry." The Black Canary replies.

"Sara's right. You can inspire people in a way the three of us never could, watching over your city like a guardian angel. Making a difference, saving people in a flash." The Arrow smiles at him as the three walk to the edge of the roof.

"Take your own advice." The Black Canary grins as she takes the Arrow's hand, who glances toward Barry.

"Wear a mask." He grins before grabbing the Black Canary and jumping off the side of the roof along with The Man In The Mask, who attaches himself to the opposite building, the Arrow and the Black Canary hanging off the side of it.

"Cool." Barry smiles to himself as he turns to begin his run back to Central City.

"Cool." The Arrow grins.

"It's not that cool, kid." The Man In The Mask interjects.

"Yes it is."

"Compared to what you and I have seen before now it really isn't."

"When was the last time you saw an ordinary guy run that fast?"

"That's not the point I'm trying to make, kid."

"Are you guys gonna keep this up much longer?" The Black Canary interjects.

"Seriously though. It's cool."

"Still not that impressive, kid."

A smile crosses Barry's face as he continues to hear the best friends arguing between themselves, as he runs.

The sound of their voices getting fainter and fainter the further he goes.

The closer he gets to home.

Running home from Starling City to Central City.

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading, the second part is finally up as promised as I have virtually finished my version of Arrow season 2 and heading on into three, which means this story will be updated a lot more. Thank you for all the follows and favourites and the kind reviews, thanks again so much for reading and please tell me what you all thought of this chapter :)_**


	3. Pilot (3)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Three_**

 _STAR Labs_

Returning from Starling City, Barry finds himself returning to STAR Labs where, almost the instance he steps into the building he is met by Caitlin Snow.

"You came back." Is what she says when seeing him.

"Yeah, I did. Just as long you know, your not planning on dissecting me or something. I mean I was kinda getting that vibe from Wells earlier and I'm not really keen on that idea." He smirks and if he's not mistaken he sees the corners of her lips twitch into a somewhat smile.

"Don't worry, I won't let him dissect you. I promise." She responds.

"I feel assured already." Barry grins.

"I'm glad you came back." She admits after a moment causing Barry to freeze in place.

"I mean. I know Wells didn't exactly have much restraint earlier when he spoke to you."

"I don't blame him. He's right. He's lost so much and suddenly I come along with these unexplained abilities. I do understand why he reached the way he did." He nods.

"He was hard on you though." She glances up at him, silence passing between the two for several rather uncomfortable moments for Barry, who knows he's going to start stuttering or babbling any time soon…

"Um ok. I. I have something that perhaps might interest you and Cisco?" He says when he can find his words.

"What?" She folds her arms, raising her eyebrow at him. Barry smiles.

"I'll show you."

 _Later…_

"I've been going over unsolved cases for the past nine months and there's been a sharp increase in unexplained deaths and missing people. Your metahumans have been busy." Barry explains to both Caitlin and Cisco, who look at one another, sad looks on their faces.

"No, I'm not blaming you. I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen. I know you all lost something." He says quickly, looking to Caitlin in particular.

"But I need your help to catch Mardon and anyone else out there like him but I can't do it without you." Barry admits, glancing to Caitlin again, who quickly looks to Cisco, who starts to nod, a smile crossing his face as he does so.

"If we're gonna do this. I have something that might help." He grins before all but skipping out of the room, Barry and Caitlin exchanging a glance before they hurry after him, into a room where something lies upon a metal surface.

A red suit with yellow designs on the legs and sides.

"It's designed to replace the turnouts firefighters traditionally wear. I thought if STAR Labs did something nice for the community maybe people wouldn't be so angry at Dr. Wells anymore." Cisco reveals to them.

"How is it going to help me?" Barry enquires.

"It's made of a reinforced tripolymer. It's heat and abrasive resistant so it should withstand your moving at high velocity speeds and the aerodynamic design should help you maintain control, plus it has built in sensors so we can track your vitals and stay in contact with you from here." Cisco explains to him.

"Thanks." Barry glances at him before sighing.

"Now how do we find Mardon?"

"I restasked STAR Labs satellite to track meteorological abnormalities over Central City. We just got a ping." Caitlin reveals, Barry and Cisco moving to see the screen of her iPad.

"Atmospheric pressure dropped twenty millibars in a matter of seconds." She reveals as Barry begins to move toward the suit whilst Caitlin continues to talk.

"I've tracked it to a farm just west of the city."

 _Said Farm_

"I'm not saying Mardon is alive." Joe West notes as he slams the car door shut.

"But if he was, this is the last place him and his brother hid out. Let's go." He says to Eddie Thawne, who follows behind him, the two of them raising their guns as they approach the barn, especially after hearing a noise from within.

Walking into the main part of the barn, they see a man on a chair in the middle of the room, keeping their guns in that direction as they walk toward the figure.

"Mardon?" Joe questions as he approaches.

"On your feet. Hands on your head." He says clearly.

"You got me, ha." Mardon remarks as Joe begins to put his gun away, unlike Eddie, who keeps his trained on Mardon.

"The night of the storm, after STAR Labs blew after our place went down and I woke up on the ground alive. When I saw what I could do I understood. I am God." He proclaims.

"Shut the hell up." Joe retorts as Mardon gets to his feet, hands up as if he were surrendering to them.

"Turn around." Eddie commands as smoke begins to appear from nowhere, the minute Mardon clenches his hands it causes a sudden blast of wind, which throws both Eddie and Joe back into a haystack.

"Do you think your guns can stop God?" Mardon yells as Joe looks toward Eddie, who appear to be unconscious.

"Why in the hell would god need to rob banks?" Joe shouts back in response to Mardon's evident madness.

"You're right. I've been thinking too small." He replies, before holding out his hands mist appearing from them, circling to create something identical to a tornado that begins to swirl above his head, straight through the roof of the barn, whilst Mardon stands in the middle. Completely unaffected.

Looking on in shock and horror, Joe takes no haste in grabbing Eddie, pulling him up and dragging him outside the barn whilst the tornado follows them, breaking through the barn, the wind throwing both Joe and the semi unconscious Eddie into the side of their car.

The tornado continues its journey out of the now wrecked barn, causing various objects to rise and begin to fly around in the air.

One large piece of debris in particular, heading straight for Joe and Eddie.

Yet before it can hit them, something hits it, in a blur of red.

Throwing itself at the debris, causing it to land far away from where Joe and Eddie are.

Sitting up in yet more shock. Joe watches as the blur of red is revealed to be a person, who simply stands up, shoving the debris away from him…

"Barry. Barry. This things getting closer." Cisco calls anxiously through the comms as Barry tears off the mouth mask part of Cisco's suit.

"Wind speeds are two hundred miles per hour and increasing. Barry can you hear me?" Cisco asks when Barry says nothing back.

"Yeah. Loud and clear." Barry replies quickly.

"If it keeps up this could be an F-Five tornado." Cisco warns him.

"And it's headed straight towards the city!" Barry exclaims anxiously.

"How do I stop it?" He questions soon afterwards.

"Guys?!" He adds when no answer is given immediately.

Think, think, think! He tells himself quickly, wracking his brain for answers, anything he could possibly to do to stop this when…

"What if I unravel it?" He thinks out loud.

"How the hell are you going to do that?" Caitlin retorts anxiously.

"I'll run around it in the opposite direction. Cut off its legs." Barry responds.

"He'd have to clock seven hundred miles per hour to do that." Cisco murmurs.

"Barry, your body may not be able to handle those speeds. You'll die." Caitlin calls to him.

"I have to try." Barry says firmly.

If he dies saving the city.

It would be worth it…

Without a second thought he races toward the tornado, Joe West looking on in shock as the red blur passes him in flash, heading straight towards the tornado where it begins to circle it over and over again.

"Haha! Suit's holding up." Cisco reports triumphantly.

"But he's not." Caitlin replies anxiously.

"He can do it. I know he can do it." Cisco murmurs whilst continuing to look at his computer.

Meanwhile, Barry continues to race around and around the tornado over and over again.

Realising his presence from within the tornado. Mardon sends out a bolt of lightening that knocks Barry out of the tornado, sending him spinning across the ground.

"It's too strong!" Barry yells through his comms over the roaring wind.

From within the tornado, Clyde Mardon looks up to the sky.

"It's time to think big." He hisses as he increases the speed and power of the tornado…

"You can do this Barry." The unexpected voice of Harrison Wells calls out from the comms as to both Cisco and Caitlin's surprise, he wheels into to room, approaching the computers they are sat at.

"You were right. I am responsible for all of this. So many people have been hurt because of me and when I looked at you, all I saw was another potential victim of my hubris and yes, I created this madness but you Barry, you can stop it. You can do this. Now run, Barry, run!" He commands sternly as Barry races toward the tornado, faster than he had before.

Racing around it at a much faster speed, around and around and around again.

Mardon yells out when it becomes to much for him to keep a hold on the tornado, looking on in horror as the red blur speeds around it so fast that it dissipates completely…

"Barry?!" Caitlin calls through the comms when she, Cisco and Wells hear nothing but silence from the other end.

Meanwhile, exhausted from the run, Barry sits up panting, the mask part of the suit having fallen from around his head as he tries to regain his footing.

He did it, he thinks to himself.

He stopped the tornado.

He saved the city…

"Hey!" Mardon's voice calls from behind him suddenly.

Barry spins around instantly to face Mardon, only to see that in his hand is a gun, aimed directly at him.

Is he faster than a speeding bullet? He wonders to himself anxiously.

"I didn't think there was anyone else like me." Mardon remarks.

"I'm not like you. You're a murderer!" Barry shouts back, Mardon advancing on him with the gun, which Barry was certain he was about to fire, if not for gunshots sounding out, followed by Mardon falling to the ground.

He's dead… Barry spins around instantly to face the person who'd shot Mardon.

Joe.

Joe who is currently running toward him, falling to his knees in front of Barry when he eventually reaches his side.

"Barry?!" Caitlin calls anxiously again through the comms.

"It's over. I'm okay." He assures her as from within STAR Labs Cisco begins to grin, Well's also has a smile on his face, both he and Cisco wishing Barry could be in the room at that moment as not only are the two of them smiling.

But for the first time in nine months.

Caitlin's smiling too.

 _Later…_

In the early morning, the CCPD are already on the scene, removing Clyde Mardon's now definitely dead body and assessing the damage done to the surroundings.

Meanwhile, Barry and Joe stand side by side beside Joe's car whilst Eddie sits in the back of an ambulance, due to his slight head injury.

"Wonder when Julian's going to get here." Barry decides to break the already uncomfortable silence between him and Joe.

"Ohh never mind. He's here. I'm just gonna…" He starts to try and escape but Joe wraps a hand around his wrist to keep him in place.

"What you can do…" Joe starts but trails off.

"It was the Lightning bolt?" He questions.

"More or less." Barry replies as Joe shakes his head rapidly.

"I'm sorry Barry." He murmurs as Barry glances over at him in slight confusion.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you." He admits to silence from Barry, even though a slight smile does cross his lips at Joe's words.

Words he'd waited a long time to hear.

It feels even better than he'd dreamed it would.

"And I called you crazy for chasing the impossible but you really did see something that night your mom died." He whispers as Barry remains silent, but nods all the same.

"And your dad is innocent." He mutters Barry frowning at him when he instantly moves to stand in front of him.

"I need you to promise me something. I don't want you telling Iris about anything you can do. Any of it. I want her safe and considering he's your best friend and you care about him enough not to want anything bad happening to him, you won't tell Julian about any of this either. Promise me." Joe begs sternly as Barry nods almost instantly.

"Yeah."

He'd never planned to tell Iris and Julian anyways...

 _Iron Heights_

Sat with his head down, finding the surface of the desk he is sat at very interesting for a moment, Barry looks up when he hears a familiar buzzing sound.

Lead into the room by guards, his father is sat down in front of the glass that separates him and Barry, both men reaching for the phones to speak to one another instantly.

"Hey, slugger." Henry smiles at his son as if they weren't in a prison.

"You've been calling me that since I was eleven." Barry smiles back as Henry chuckles.

"Funny thing is I finally got into a fight today…"

"You just got out of a coma. I'm not sure you should be picking fights." Henry all but scolds him at his words. Barry sighs but continues to smile.

"Hey, did you win?" Henry questions with a smirk of his own.

"Yeah, I did." Barry grins momentarily, enjoying the sound of his father chuckling at him.

"Are you sure your ok. I mean, nine month coma. Bartholomew Henry Allen I have never been so worried in my entire life." He all but growls at Barry.

"No I'm ok. I'm better than okay." Barry smiles.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah dad I'm sure. I mean woke up in STAR Labs I felt normal, better than normal. Completely surreal though I thought I was dead and in heaven because honestly, STAR Labs would have been heaven for me and then I thought I saw an angel but that was just…" Barry trails off as Henry laughs at him.

"An angel? So let me get this straight; you wake up from a nine month coma and you meet a woman?" He questions.

"Yeah. Yeah I did and well she's…" Barry trails off as he feels himself begin to blush.

"Not someone who will ever want to be with me." He sighs.

"Don't put yourself down, slugger. You never know what might happen in the future." He points out as Barry looks up at him with sad eyes.

"You didn't kill mom. You know I know that, right?" He adds suddenly.

"You believing me is all I need." Henry replies honestly.

"You're not going to be in here much longer. Whoever killed mom, whatever killed her. I think I finality have a way to find them, to stop them…"

"Barry. We've talked about this." Henry sighs, already knowing where this is going.

"It's time to let it go. You've got to stop worrying about me and live your life." Henry reminds him gently.

"For the first time, I feel like I finally can." Barry smiles at him before admitting.

"The truth is, since the night mom died, I've been stuck in one place, missed out on a lot of things but I'm different now. I made some new friends. I met someone I actually think I want to be with and they're helping me find my way."

 _STAR Labs_

Walking into a room where Cisco is messing with the suit Barry wore during the fight to stop Clyde Mardon, Caitlin frowns as she sees Cisco placing an emblem on the previously empty circle in the middle of the suit.

"Why is it shaped like a lighting bolt?" She queries.

"So it's not boring." Cisco retorts.

 _Iron Heights_

"To finally moved forward. You remember when you wanted me to change my name so I wouldn't have to deal with people knowing you're my dad?" Barry says through the tears that begin to well up in his eyes.

"I'm glad they know." Barry says firmly through his tears, noticing the tears on his father's face as well.

"I'm so proud to be your son." He admits sadly.

"I love you, son." Henry smiles at him though his own tears.

"I love you too, dad." Barry replies as he places his hand on the glass panel, smiling back as his father does the exact same.

 _Central City_

As Barry runs through the streets of Central City with a smile on his face he thinks to himself as he runs.

My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. Friends recently gave me the idea for a new name. He thinks as he sees a man on a bike, to preoccupied with his phone to see the car that hits him.

Yet upon impact he is thrown to safety by a blur of red.

Barry smiles as he continues to run.

Something tells me it's gonna catch on, he thinks happily.

He is. The Flash.

 _STAR Labs_

Wheeling himself to a wall, Harrison Wells presses his hand against said wall, causing it to unfold into a doorway, allowing him to wheel into a white walled room with small spheres on the walls.

Parking the chair dead centre, he gets to his feet, taking off his glasses and disposing them on a chair before placing his hand on a device in the middle of the room which brings up a news paper article with the headline.

'Flash missing. Vanishes in crisis.'

The date of the paper.

April 25th 2024…

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading, next chapter should hopefully be out soon as its in the works, thanks for all the follows and favourites, see you all next update and please tell me what you thought of this chapter :)_**


	4. Fastest Man Alive (1)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Four_**

 _Central City_

"This is the part where I'm supposed to do the whole intro thingy. Barry Allen, fastest man alive but you know that already." Barry thinks to himself as he races through the streets of Central City at lightning speed.

"All right, let's get to the good stuff. See that smoke? That's a fire on Western and Third in Downtown Central City and that blur? That's me on my way to it." Barry thinks gleefully to himself as he runs.

"I'm going three hundred and fifty two miles an hour and it's a slow day."

 _Meanwhile…_

"This is ladder 52. We're still at least two minutes out." A fireman reports from inside a fire truck to a worrying response.

"People are gonna die." Is what the response is. The fireman sighs.

"I know."

 _Elsewhere…_

"Barry." Cisco calls through the comms as Barry speeds past the fire truck.

"Barry!" He shouts when he gets no response from Barry.

"What? Did I miss it?" Barry questions when he comes to a standstill.

"You overshot by about six blocks." Cisco retorts. Barry sighs to himself.

"My bad." He groans before spinning around to run back in the direction of the building.

 _Meanwhile…_

As the building continues to burn at an alarming rate, a horrified mother runs around outside, screaming for her daughter.

"Paige! My daughter! Has anyone seen my daughter? Paige!" She screams just as a blur passes her in a flash.

"Are you there yet?" Cisco questions through the comms to Barry as he races headlong into the building and through the flames.

"What are you doing?" The stern cold voice of Caitlin Snow fills Cisco's ears, who instantly moves to switch everything he sees around him off, before spinning around to face her, sucking nervously on his lollipop.

"Nothing." He replies causally.

"Who are you talking to?" Caitlin questions strictly.

"No one." Cisco replies, wincing slightly as she begins to advance on him.

"Are you talking to Barry?" She questions sharply.

"Who?" Cisco frowns, instantly unsure if that was the word he should have used.

"Barry Allen? Stuck by lightning, in a coma for nine months, woke up being able to run faster than the speed of sound? Ring a bell?" She folds her arms.

"Nope, haven't talked to him…"

"Cisco! There's fire everywhere!" Barry suddenly screams through the comms.

"Cisco are you still there?!" He yells whilst looking around the building.

"Mom? Mommy?" A young girl, still caught in the burning building cries, yet the moment Barry lays eyes on her, he reaches for her instantly and she's outside and soon enough in her mother's arms.

Meanwhile, a number of other people are being pulled from the building by an unknown force, a force which is in fact a speeding Barry Allen, who once he's certain everyone is out of the building he speeds around the block, stopping in the closest alleyway.

"Ok, everybody's out. What else you got for me, Cisco?" He questions though the comms.

"Barry, it's Caitlin." Comes the unexpected voice of Caitlin Snow, causing Barry to freeze in place instantly.

"Heyyy Caitlin." Barry starts nervously, wracking his brains for something to say that might get him out of a thorough scolding later.

"How's your day? Is there anything I can get you? There's a few shops…"

"Get back to STAR Labs. NOW!" She growls.

"On my way." Barry sighs before beginning to speed away, just when a sudden pain in his head hits him and his vision begins to go a little foggy.

Yet it passes as soon as it arrives and he's running once again.

 _STAR Labs_

"I'm back!" Barry calls, coming to an abrupt stop right in front of Cisco and Caitlin, one hand behind his back.

"Have you both lost your minds? Who do you think you are?" Caitlin growls at him the instant she lays eyes on him, her anger directed also at Cisco.

"Well, I'm the eyes and ears and he's the feet." Cisco retorts.

"This isn't funny. You could have gotten yourself killed!" Caitlin snaps as she moves across the room to reach something off her desk.

"You can't be running around the city like some supersonic fireman…"

"Why not? This is what we talked about. Me using my speed to do good." Barry reminds her.

"We talked about you helping contain other people who might have been affected by the particle accelerator explosion. Metahumans and aside from Clyde Mardon, we haven't found any." She points out.

"People in the city still need help and I can help them." Barry sighs.

"We can help them." Cisco interjects.

"Will you please say something?!" Caitlin glances toward Well's who rolls into the room.

"I think what Caitlin is saying, in her own spectacularly angry way, is that we're just beginning to understand what your body is capable of, not to sound like a broken record Mr. Allen but I do caution restraint." He advises calmly.

"Dr. Wells. I doubt restraint is how you got to be the man you are today." Barry retorts.

"In a wheelchair and a pariah. Lack of restraint is what made me these things. Know your limits." He notes sternly before wheeling away.

"Don't expect me to patch you up every time you break something!" Caitlin scolds him before adding with folded arms.

"What have you got behind your back? You've had your hand behind your back ever since you speeded your way in here." She growls.

"Ohh yeah, I kinda guessed you were going to give me an earful so I figured I'd try keep the peace a little and I picked up these on the way, they're a little crushed but uhh." Barry shrugs as he pulls his hand from behind his back to pass Caitlin the slightly crushed roses he has held in them.

"Thank you." She says as she takes them from him.

"You're somewhat forgiven." She notes with a slight smile, resting her hand gently on his wrist when she takes them from him, causing a beaming smile to appear on Barry's face as she walks away, staring after her up until the moment Cisco grabs his arm.

"Hey, uh, anything happen out there today? The sensors in the suit were kicking back some weird telemetry, like your vitals spiked for a few seconds." He reveals.

"Never felt better." Barry lies with a confident smile as his phone begins to buzz, Cisco passing the phone to him, whilst he watches Caitlin place the flowers right by her desk.

"Hey, Joe, everything all right?" He queries when answering the phone.

"Great. I got a fresh crime scene, a dead body, detectives interviewing witnesses, Julian doing something technical, miles of that yellow tape stretched over everything I'm only missing one thing, now can you guess what that is?" He questions, his tone slightly sarcastic.

"I'll be right there." Barry sighs before facing the others.

"My day job beckons." He murmurs before racing out of the room, causing a blast of air in his wake and a Harrison Wells in disbelief.

"When do you think he'll realise he didn't take his clothes?"

 _Elsewhere In Central City_

Reaching an alleyway near to the crime scene, Barry is about to cross the yellow tape just when he realises that he's still wearing his red suit.

Why does this always happen to me, he thinks to himself.

"Hmm." He tilts his head to the side upon seeing a clothing store across from him.

With a slight smile, he races into the store.

 _Meanwhile…_

"Perp made off with a bunch of handguns, at least six Glock-19's fitted with extra ammunition magazines. Somebody's looking to do a whole lot of bad." Joe comments as Barry strides onto the crime scene in his new clothes.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." He apologises as he reaches Joe and Captain Singh.

"Doing a little Fall shopping?" Singh glares at him as Joe yanks the price tag off Barry's coat.

"Oh, heh, I was going so fast this morning, I didn't even notice." Barry covers quickly.

"Yeah." He adds quickly when Joe all but throws a pair of crime scene gloves at him.

"Barry." Julian somewhat smiles at him as he passes him.

"Hey Julian. You gotten anything off this yet?" He questions.

"Well I was going to but because Thawne is inept when it comes to technology, I had the job of downloading the surveillance footage of the security cameras." Julian informs them all.

"Hey I'm not inept! I was questioning a witness. I was multitasking!" Eddie calls from the background whilst jogging over. Julian shares a glance with Barry.

"Multi failing." He mutters under his breath as he turns to show Joe and Singh the downloaded footage, which shows a man walking into the store and firing a weapon.

"Looks like only one perp." Eddie comments as on film, the criminal shoots out the camera.

"What are you doing?" Joe glances toward Barry as Julian folds his arms.

"I can assure you this is not the time to be practicing dance routines." He smirks slightly as they all look up to see Barry doing some intricate footwork around the crime scene.

"Ah footage may only show one but it was six guys. Look, the tracks. They're all crossing each other. Six sets of footprints, six guns stolen. We should be looking for a crew. Weird. The shoes they all look like the same size. Men's ten's, I'd guess. Just like you, captain." Barry glances to Singh, instantly regretting it as Joe's eyes widen and Julian all but buries his head in his hands.

"Not that you're a suspect, sir!" He adds quickly as Julian moves toward him.

"I'll be genuinely amazed if you're still employed by the end of the year, mate."

 _CCPD_

"Your ability to multitask is truly remarkable. The way you can embarrass me, the captain and yourself all at the same time." Joe growls at Barry as they enter the precinct.

"I'll see you in our lab then, mate. Good luck." Julian pats him on the back as he moves quickly towed the stairs.

"Joe, I'm sorry." Barry starts the minute Julian has left him.

"I'm starting to think, 'Joe, I'm sorry' is my actual name considering how often you say it to me." He growls at him.

"I'm dealing with a lot right now." Barry sighs in response.

"Look, I know you are, believe me, I'm dealing with it too. I've always had a very simple set of beliefs. Gravity makes things fall. Water makes things wet until a few weeks ago, I believed the fastest man could run a mile in four minutes. Not four seconds…"

"I can do it in three." Barry can't help but grin.

"Not relevant." He winces soon afterwards.

"You haven't said anything to Iris or Julian about all this have you?" He questions sharply.

"No, I made you a promise. I keep my promises." Barry winces.

"Keep on lying like that you're liable to get stuck by lightning again. Get up to the lab and you and Julian need to start processing the evidence from the gun store." He scolds him, watching him race up the stairs.

The sight of Barry running up the stairs dragging him back to a memory from long ago.

 _Past Central City_

 _With his backpack on his back, young Barry Allen races down a road as fast as his little legs can carry him until suddenly a cop car comes sailing into view, stopping right in front of him._

 _Barry stops instantly, a defeated look on his face as Joe West climbs out._

 _The great escape is over._

 _Past West Residence_

 _Opening the door, Joe watches Barry enter the house before turning to greet Iris._

 _"Hey Iris." He greets her whilst she's on the stairs._

 _"Did Barry run away again?" She questions as Barry moves toward the couch, dumping his backpack down on the way there._

 _"Unless that's one of your homework questions little lady, it's none of your business. Go on back to your room." He commands as Iris sighs before turning toward Barry._

 _"I want to see my dad." Barry puts bluntly._

 _"I already said no, Barry." Joe replies gently._

 _"He didn't do those things. He didn't hurt my mom!" Barry cries as Joe approaches him._

 _"I was there that night. I saw. There was a man…"_

 _"Yeah. I know we've gone though this already." Joe sighs._

 _"Then why can't I go see him?!" Barry cries again._

 _"Because I said so." Joe says after a moment._

 _"You're not my father. You can't tell me what to do!" Barry yells back._

 _"Right now I'm the only adult that gives a damn about what happens to you, so yes I can tell you want to do." He says sharply, fixing Barry with a stern glare._

 _"Now go to your room." He adds as Barry races toward the stairs._

 _"I hate you!"_

 _CCPD_

"He give you an earful?" Julian questions when Barry steps into their lab.

"Not really, you know. The usual few stern words." He sighs.

"Next time, try not to insinuate that our boss is a suspect. If you want to insinuate Thawne, go ahead. I won't stop you. Might actually help you with that one, mate." Julian grumbles.

"Eddie ain't that bad you know." Barry glances at him.

"Allen you're supposed to be on my side here." Julian protests.

"I am on your side. It's just Eddie's done nothing to me at all. So I don't realty have anything against him." Barry replies as Julian shoves a few samples at him.

"Go test that now you're here. I've got other evidence to go through." He mumbles as Barry moves toward his desk, everything all ready for him. Placing the samples in the machine, Barry sighs as he waits for it to activate.

"Ohh that things been on the bloody blink for weeks. Try hitting it. I'm off to get coffee. Want me to bring you some?" Julian calls to him.

"No thanks." Barry gives him a kind smile as she hits the side of the machine, watching as Julian walks out of the room and shuts the door behind him before pulling the vial out.

Smirking to himself, he uses his speed to spin it around rapidly, grinning when his plan works and getting to his feet, he pulls off his gloves before practically skipping across the lab, up until the minute the dizzy feeling that had come over him earlier makes another sudden reappearance and he falls into his desk, trying not to pass out.

"This is all your fault! I could've taken European Folklore to cover my sociology requirement. You said take journalism, Iris. Reporters have all of the fun. Guess what Barry? Reporters have none of the fun. Journalism is boring. I'm bored. I blame you." Iris growls with a slight smile as she enters the lab.

"What? Are you okay? You look a little off." She folds her arms.

"Yeah. Sorry. In my own world." He replies quickly.

"Been there awhile? You're not even ready." She sighs.

"Ready for what?" Barry frowns as he moves to jot something down on paper.

"For this afternoon? Suit and tie? The university is giving Simon Stagg…"

"Simon Stagg." Barry groans as the realisation hits him.

"Some award. You agreed…"

"To explain the science stuff in your article. It's all coming back to me now." Barry winces.

"How fast can you get home and change?" Iris queries.

"Pretty fast." Barry replies.

"Hey Allen. Joe asked me to see where you and Albert were at on the evidence from the gun store shooting. Hey Iris." Eddie smiles as he too enters the lab.

"Detective." Iris replies formally causing Barry to roll his eyes at them.

"Please guys, kiss already. Already know remember." Barry smiles at them as Eddie and Iris instantly move to kiss one another.

"Thanks for being so cool about this Barry." Eddie looks up at him kindly.

"Ohh I'm just glad you guys are happy." He smiles warmly at them both before fixing Eddie with a cold glare.

"But if you hurt my sister. I will hunt you down." He tries to sound threatening but both Iris and Eddie burst instantly into laughter and after a moment so does Barry.

 _Stagg Industries_

"I find it quite remarkable having once been a timid freshman at Central City University to be standing before you, the regents choice for man of the year. While I very much appreciate the award the real honour for me is knowing that my work in organ transference helps give people a second chance at life. Thank you all very much for coming." Simon Stagg speaks to the crowd of many people, including both Barry and Iris.

"Okay, all right, first things first. Simon Stagg's work in cellular cloning has led to huge advancements in organ replacement…" Barry trails off as Iris cuts him off by instantly grabbing two tall glasses of champagne.

"Are journalists allowed to drink on the job?" She questions.

"Ok if you are bored already wait until we get to the science behind cellular regeneration." Barry responds, taking the two glasses out of her hands as Iris laughs lightly.

"I have missed this, Barry. I feel like we haven't spent any quality time together since you woke up from the coma." She admits.

"Yeah, I've had a crazy few weeks, I know." Barry nods.

"But now, hopefully things are getting back to normal, you and I can start hanging out more again!" She cheers as Barry smiles.

"I'd like that." He nods as Iris spies her chance to actually get some journalism done.

"Oh, oh. Mr. Stagg, I was wondering if I could get a quote from you for my article?" She calls hopefully as he passes her.

"Not now, miss." His bodyguard responds for him as he is lead away causing Iris to sigh.

"I'll just make something up." She shrugs it off as she smirks at Barry, just as gunfire sounds out causing everyone instantly to drop to the floor.

"Quiet down, all of you!" The man yells as Iris clutches to Barry's arm, who leads them both slowly down to the floor.

"Quiet!" The man with the gun snaps again, glancing at the masses of people.

"How considerate. You're all wearing your finest jewellery, almost like you knew we were coming to rob you." He remarks smugly.

"Now everybody line up!" He commands as people instantly begin to get to their feet, throwing their most valuable jewellery into the bags the other members of the man's crew hold out expectantly.

"Don't, don't." Iris holds Barry back when it appears like he's going to advance on the theifs.

"FREEZE!" A brave security guard suddenly yells, a gun in hand as he races into the room causing the thieves to stop and turn on him simultaneously, all with guns in their hands.

"Drop your weapons." The guard continues as the thieves fire their guns instantly, Barry using his speed to pull the guard out of harms way and into another room before racing after the robbers who had ran the instant they watched the unknown force pull the guard away from what would have been his death.

Speeding after the robbers, Barry is almost at the van when the crippling dizziness hits him again causing him to collapse against the bins as the van zooms away, this time leaving Barry to fall into a state of unconsciousness…

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading, next chapter shall hopefully be out soon. Thank you all so much for the follows and favourites and please do tell me what you all thought of this chapter :)_**


	5. Fastest Man Alive (2)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Five_**

 _Stagg Industries_

"Barry. Barry. Barry." The insistent voice of Iris pulls Barry from unconsciousness, who sits up abruptly to find her sitting beside him.

"I turned around and you were gone. What happened? Are you okay?" She questions.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. I went after them to try and get the plates and I fainted." He admits, which isn't one hundred percent and lie.

"Come on. We need to go inside. The cops are already here, dad, Eddie." She helps him up, leading him back inside the building and toward Joe and Eddie.

"Hi." Iris smiles at them.

"Iris." Eddie greets her politely when really he just wants to wrap her in his arms and never let go after the fear that went through him the instant he'd learnt of the robbery.

"Where were you?" Joe glances at Barry skeptically.

"Dad, to easy. I found him outside, he fainted." Iris explains for him.

"Do you want me to get you a paramedic, Allen?" Eddie questions.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks Eddie." Barry gives him a kind smile.

"Fine. You look bloody awful." Julian retorts from behind him.

"Charming really." Iris folds her arm, fixing him with a glare.

"Just stating the facts." Julian shrugs as they all tune into the the conversation between the guard and other officers.

"I thought I was dead. I saw the gun go off and then boom! Suddenly, I'm outside. I have no idea how I got there." The guard admits.

"Let me talk to you for a second." Joe glances to Barry.

"Yeah." Barry nods.

"Good luck, mate." Julian pats him on the shoulder for the second time today before leaving Barry to follow Joe.

"You chased those gunmen?" He mutters once they're out of earshot.

"They must be the same guys that knocked over the gun shop earlier today." Barry replies.

"And what were you going to do when you caught them, huh?" Joe folds his arms.

"Ask them nicely to pull over? You're not bulletproof. Wait, are you?" He queries.

"No." Barry says to confirm.

"Okay. No more heroics. Chasing bad guys is not your job, it's mine. You're not a cop, promise me." He looks to Barry strictly.

"Promise." Barry sighs like a petulant child.

"And you know Iris is not stupid." Joe adds sharply.

"Start making better excuses then 'I fainted'." He growls at him as he walks away, holding up a hand when Barry starts to interject.

Thinking to himself, but I did faint.

 _STAR Labs_

"You lied to us!" Caitlin Snow snarls as Barry sits on one of the beds whilst being thoroughly checked over after begrudgingly traipsing back to STAR Labs and reluctantly admitting to them all about his dizzy spells.

To say Caitlin was furious with him would be an understatement.

"How could you not tell us you're experiencing dizzy spells? We're your doctors! God knows what's going on inside your body. Your cells are in a constant state of flux." She hisses as she moves to stand in front of him.

"You could be experiencing cardiopulmonary failure, or a transient ischemic attack!" She yells medical jargon at him rapidly.

"Mini stroke. Probably not." Wells kindly translates for him.

"You of all people, should know that in science, we share. We do not keep secrets." She snaps before walking away, Barry wincing slightly from the power behind her rage, yet fights not to smile slightly, having detected the worry in her voice.

"Wow. I haven't seen anyone make her that angry since Ronnie." Cisco winces himself as he passes an iPad to Wells before moving toward Caitlin, causing a look of shock to cross Barry's face at his choice of words.

"Ronnie was Caitlin's fiancé? The one that died the night of the accelerator explosion?" Barry glances to Wells.

"Yeah, he is missed." He says shortly, sort of giving Barry the impressions that Ronnie isn't a subject he should really mention or speak about.

"Now let's figure out why this is happening to you."

 _Later…_

"We are all set!" Cisco cheers as Barry frowns at the amount of cardboard boxes packed sky high in front of him.

"A little padding just in case." Cisco says before Barry can say a word.

"Yeah." Barry nods as Cisco heads out of the room, whilst he is left alone in said room and approaches the treadmill in the centre of the room.

"You sure about this Cisco?" Barry calls.

"Most home treadmills have a maximum speed of about twelves miles per hour. This one has been Ciscoed. Trust me it can handle your speed." Cisco smiles at him through the glass.

"Okay." Barry sighs nervously before beginning to jog, his jog slowly turning into a run, then speed when Wells gives him the go ahead.

"Heart rate, blood pressure, nerve conduction all normal." Caitlin notes.

"For Barry." Wells reminds her.

"Brainwave function within standard limits." She continues.

"Heh. Told you the treadmill could take it." Cisco grins happily.

"Caitlin, look at the glucose levels." Wells nudges her as it all dawns on her instantly.

"Oh, my god of course!" She sighs.

"Right, glucose." Wells nods.

"It was so obvious." She shakes her head in disbelief that she didn't see it before.

"Barry, we think we know why you keep…" Wells is cut off by Barry suddenly stopping mid run from the low glucose levels and flying backwards into the cardboard boxes with a resounding thud, the impact causing the cardboard boxes to explode and for polystyrene to fill the room as an anxious glance instantly crosses Caitlin's face.

"Passing out."

 _CCPD_

"Barry?!" Joe yells as he enters his lab.

"Just me detective, haven't seen Barry since the Stagg Industries incident." Julian calls.

"Do you know where he is?" Joe questions.

"Nope. I was going to give him a ring soon though. If I find him, let you know?" Julian suggests as Joe glances at him.

"Nah, you can tell him to call me." He retorts as he crosses the room, frowning at the whiteboard that has a small hook on it he hadn't noticed before.

"What's under there?" He glances toward Julian.

"Ohh we separate our work, Barry and I. I have the one on top, he has the one underneath. No need to…" He closes his eyes as Joe pulls it up to reveal the board that lies underneath.

"… Take a look." Julian finishes with a sigh, burying his head in his hands as Joe looks at it, realising what it is, is a evidence board, with everything on it connecting to the murder of Nora Allen, among other 'impossible cases'.

"Did you know about this?" He looks to Julian.

"Yep." Julian nods whilst folding his arms, ignoring the look Joe gives him.

"What? Are you really that surprised?" He points out as Joe shakes his head.

"No. No I am not."

 _Past West Residence_

 _Walking into his home, Joe West is greeted with the sight of his daughter sat at the table, doing her homework alone._

 _"Where's Barry?" He questions instantly._

 _"Taking a shower." Iris replies calmly._

 _"At three o'clock in the afternoon? If I go up those stairs am I gonna see Barry Allen or are you gonna be grounded for a week for lying to me?" Joe threatens._

 _"I'm sorry, daddy. But don't worry, I know where he went." Iris places her pens down as Joe sighs in almost defeat._

 _"Me too."_

 _CCPD_

"I'm gonna head out. If I see or hear from Barry, I'll get him to call you." Julian nods to him as he leaves the lab, but upon seeing the STAR Labs jumper hanging over the chair.

He's pretty sure he already knows where Barry is.

 _STAR Labs_

"Woah." Barry groans as he comes into consciousness, glancing to his left when he feels gentle hands on his arms, helping him up.

Caitlin, he gives her a grateful smile.

"I pass out again?" He looks at her, not really remembering much except being on the treadmill and possibly passing out and crashing into all them boxes in front of everyone.

Great! Barry thinks as he lets Caitlin help him sit up.

"Toto a metabolic failure brought on by acute hypoglycemia." Caitlin informs him.

"I'm not eating enough." Barry guesses as Caitlin nods.

"So an IV bag and I'm good to go?" He queries as Cisco just laughs and directs him toward the many IV bags left hanging from a stand.

"Try forty. Guess you were thirsty." Wells calls to him.

"We're gonna need to fashion you a diet based on your metabolic changes." Caitlin informs him as they move past him.

"I've gone a few calculations you need to consume an amount equal to roughly eight hundred and fifty tacos, unless we're talking cheese and guac which is like a whole other set of equations." Cisco moves back toward his desk.

"For Mexican, I recommend Tito's on Bruckner Avenue." Joe West calls from the door.

"Best burrito in the city." He continues after a moment of stunned silence has passed.

"Detective West, what brings you to STAR Labs?" Wells questions.

"When I couldn't find you at your lab and Julian hadn't heard from you, I started doing a little research, turns out there's been reports of a red streak around the city. Stopping muggers, rescuing people from burning buildings." He folds his arms as he moves to stand in front of Barry.

"You didn't tell him we were working together?" Wells enquires as Barry looks down, shaking his head once to Wells before looking up again.

"Joe, I can explain…"

"You already have a job in law enforcement, Barry. I suggest you get back to it." He growls.

"Mm hm." Caitlin nods in agreement as Joe fixes her with a stern glare.

"Don't look at me. I'm on your side." She protests.

"Detective, we all want what's best for Barry." Wells starts.

"If you wanted what was best for Barry then you'd try and talk him out of this lunacy instead of encouraging him going out there and risking his life." Joe snarls at him.

"You saw a man control the weather. What are the police gonna do against someone like that?" Barry cries in protest to silence from Joe, except another glare.

"Since the accelerator explosion we suspect there may be more like him." Barry admits.

"And you're gonna do what? Catch them? Are you insane? You think because you can run real fast that you're invincible? You're not. You're just a kid. My kid!" Joe snaps at him.

"I'm not your kid, Joe and you're not my father. My father is sitting in Iron Heights, wrongfully convicted. You were wrong about him and you're wrong about this. Now I may not be able to help him, but if I can save someone from a burning building or stop some armed thieves then I'm gonna do it and you can't stop me!" Barry snaps back.

"So don't try." He adds as Joe looks at him, an almost heartbroken look on his face at the words Barry said.

"You think you're so smart. All of you but you don't know what you don't know and I hope that you're clever enough to figure it out before somebody gets killed." He hisses before storming out of the door, causing a still rather weak Barry to lean back against the bed and simply sigh.

 _Somewhere In Central Cit_ _y_

As a man approaches the thief he frowns at the sight of only him being there.

"Where's the rest of your crew?" He questions.

"Just me." The man replies as he pulls off his black hood.

"What do you want Black?" The man mutters.

"The only thing I still want in life. Your boss dead." The thief, 'Black' responds.

"It's not my fault your team moved too slow. I told you where Stagg would be, not how long." The man points out.

"I need his full itinerary and security access to his office and home." Black commands.

"Screw you. I've got a reputation in the security business it's one thing if my employer gets iced. It's another I'd it happens in his bedroom." The man points out.

"You'll do what I ask, Mr. Java." Black mutters as Mr. Java throws his hand back, punching Black sharply in the face.

"What the hell are you gonna do to me without your army?" He snaps before beginning to walk away as Black crawls to his feet, shaking rapidly as he begins the process of duplicating himself.

Having moved toward his car, Mr. Java turns back only when he hears the sounds of multiple footsteps, but when he turns around the sight he receives is less to be desired.

"I am an army." Black snarls as about five versions of Black begins to advance on Mr. Java…

 _CCPD_

"Come to yell at me again?" Barry mutters as Joe walks into the lab.

"Guessing yes." Julian calls from his desk.

"Barry's right. Here to tell both you guys that Simon Stagg's head of security was murdered last night. The coroner took some skin samples, hopefully they belong to the killer." Joe hands Barry the file, who tosses it onto Julian's desk.

"Thanks mate!" He rolls his eyes at him.

"What? You abandoned me to do all the work yesterday." Barry retorts.

"Well, whoever does the work. Try and find a match." Joe sighs.

"Can't be a coincidence, Stagg's benefit was attacked last night." Barry points out.

"I'm going to interview Stagg right now." Joe responds.

"I'll come with you." Barry decides.

"Your job is in here. Stay in here and do it." Joe snaps as Barry rolls his eyes at him before moving to sit on the edge of Julian's desk.

"Hey dad." Iris calls as she enters the lab.

"Hey, baby, gotta go." He gives her a brief hug before heading out of the lab.

"Why is my dad mad at you?" She looks toward Barry.

"I'd like to know the answer to that to. In here last night all concerned about you and wanting you to contact him. Wanting me to tell you to contact him, which I tried but you wouldn't pick up your bloody phone." Julian grumbles at him.

"Ohh it uhh. It died. Left my charger here." Barry lies quickly.

"So why is he mad at you then?" He continues.

"Work stuff." Barry murmurs.

"Well if it's work stuff does that mean he's angry at me to?" Julian queries.

"No, just me." Barry sighs before looking to Iris.

"Why are you mad at me?" He queries.

"You were supposed to meet me at Jitters to give me some scientific background for my article." She growls.

"And I didn't show up." Barry sighs upon realizing his colossal mistake.

"And now I have to come up with a new article topic in twenty four hours or I fail the assignment." She continues.

"Wow. You've really stepped in it there haven't you." Julian sighs.

"Yep." Barry mouths before turning to face her again.

"Iris…"

"Don't say that you're sorry, okay? I know that you are. What I don't know is what is going on with you. We grew up one bedroom down from each other. Do you honestly think that I don't know when you're happy, or sad, or depressed, or lost? I'm gonna ask you one last time, Barry and you better be honest with me." She growls.

"Yes. I don't mean to interrupt but I'd like an answer myself. You're not picking up your phone, we haven't had a night out since you woke up from that bloody coma. We barely even see each other at work. So. Quite frankly Barry, whatever answer you give to her, give it me to." Julian interjects.

"Thank you! Thank you Julian. See? Even you're best friend knows something's up so come on. Be honest with us. What…" Iris is stopped mid sentence as Barry begins to speed.

"You guys want to know what's happening. I'm fast now and god, I just want to tell you, both of you, my best friends but I can't. I want to tell you both everything. I want to tell you about my speed, about STAR Labs, about Caitlin Snow and how I'm super into her even though I know she will never have feelings for me back despite how I feel about her but I can't tell you guys about any of that!" Barry yells during his speed moment.

"Is going on with you?" Iris questions the minute time returns to normal just as the machine begins to bleep.

Saved by the bell, Barry can't help but thing to himself.

"Ohh, don't think we're done questioning you about this Allen." Julian moves to stand by the machine as well as Barry brings up the results.

"That's. That's bloody impossible." Julian remarks.

"What guys all I see is squiggles on a screen?" Iris murmurs.

"There was a murder last night. These skin cells belong to the murderer." Barry informs her.

"But these cells are naïve. They're Stem cells." Julian points out.

"They can replicate and become any cell the body needs." Barry glances to Iris.

"But they only come from infants." Julian continues as Iris frowns.

"So this means what? Your killer is a newborn?"

 _Stagg Industries_

"You honestly think someone wants to kill me?" Simon Stagg questions.

"Well, we're not sure, Mr. Stagg but at the event you were being honored at was robbed at gunpoint." Eddie points out.

"And your head of security was found murdered this morning." Joe continues.

"I am a scientist and a philanthropist. We're not often the targets of assassins." He notes.

"What about lawsuits? You've got about twenty of those pending against you." Joe shakes a stack of envelopes at him.

"Yeah, it is a sad fact of life, detective, that when you earn a lot of money people who haven't think they can take yours." He murmurs.

"People like this guy, for example? Danton Black?" He holds up a picture, which Stagg takes.

"Danton Black." He remarks.

"You fired him and now he's suing you." Joe points out.

"Unfortunately, our working relationship wasn't successful, but I can assure you both of one thing. Danton Black is not a killer. He's a clinical researcher, not a criminal mastermind. Now, if I can help you in any way, please let me know." He nods as he moves past both Eddie and Joe.

"I want these people caught just as much as you do…"

"Then here we are." The voice of Danton Black snaps from behind him multiple times as three men begin to shoot at Stagg.

"DOWN!" Both Joe and Eddie hell instantly, pulling Stagg to the ground at the gunshots and behind a set of canisters as the men keep approaching, firing their guns as they do, running forward as Joe, Eddie and Stagg take cover…

 _CCPD_

Having escaped from both Iris and Julian, Barry moves down the staircase, frowning at the commotion and hurried voices he hears instantly.

"Additional units are on there way!" He hears someone shout through a radio.

"Captain, what's going on?" Barry queries as he sees Singh putting on a bulletproof vest.

"Not now Barry, an armed gunman's shooting up Stagg Industries." Singh explains in passing as it hits Barry suddenly.

"Joe's there." He whispers and without a second to waste he speeds up to his lab, careful not to disturb either Julian or Iris as he grabs the bag with the red suit inside…

 _Stagg industries_

"Get him out of here. I'll cover you!" Joe growls instructions at Eddie, whom moves even closer to Stagg, ready to run on Joe's word.

"Ready? Go." Joe commands, firing at the men approaching them whilst Eddie leads Stagg away and toward the nearest exit.

Continuing to fire his guns, he manages to shoot down one of them.

Yet suddenly the one remaining splits into another identical copy of himself, once again three versions of Danton Black advancing on Joe. Firing their guns at him.

Suddenly in a flash, all their guns are disposed at Joe's feet by Barry.

"Go." He commands when he's at Joe's side.

"No." Joe starts but soon finds himself outside, courtesy of Barry, who returns to the room instantly after ensuring his safety.

"Whoever you are, give yourself up." He faces the men bravely.

"Sorry. We're not going anywhere." Black retorts.

"Until Simon Stagg is dead." All three versions speak simultaneously.

In one move, Barry knocks them all to the ground and to the sides of the room.

Except, suddenly, Danton Black splits into three more versions of himself. Barry looking on in shock before engaging them all in combat, punching one which causing two others to experience the punch also, before another one punches Barry from behind, who grunts in pain before continuing to fight, except he cannot stop them from surrounding him, beating him, kicking and punching him over and over again before throwing him into canisters.

Groaning, Barry attempts to sit up, only to see every edition of the man holding their guns at him, yet before they even have the chance to shoot him, he speeds away until he's outside, leaning against a fence panting and bleeding heavily…

 _STAR Labs_

"BARRY!" He hears Caitlin's yell before he even lays eyes on her when he speeds into STAR Labs, practically falling into one of nearby beds.

"Woah, man what happened?" Cisco looks at him in shock.

"Another. Meta.." Barry groans as Caitlin begins to asses his wounds.

"I'm sorry this might hurt." She whispers as she tries to pull the mask part of the uniform off, of his head to get a good look at his facial abrasions.

"S'okay. I can. Change." Barry murmurs before using his speed to collect himself fresh new clothes before groaning out in pain as he falls back down.

"Why have you have to do that. I could have worked around the suit!" Caitlin protests as Cisco moves to check on said suit Barry placed back in the case during his speed.

"I don't want to wear it any longer than I had to." He murmurs, looking down.

"No look at me." She rests her hands against his face to lift his head gently, smiling slightly when Barry opens his eyes to look at her as she'd instructed.

"Good." She nods, whilst glancing toward the supplies she'd began to gather, moving her hand to Barry's wrist and squeezing gently whilst she moves to get the supplies, Barry smiling slightly at the gentle grip before wincing again when Caitlin begins to clean out his facial injures.

"I'm sorry. The abrasions are already rapidly healing." She says softly.

"Yeah I got my ass handed to me." Barry grumbles.

"You got blood on my suit." Cisco remarks, annoyance evident in his voice.

"I think some of it belongs to him." Barry snaps, not amused.

"Another not so friendly Metahuman." He mutters as Wells brings up information on the Metahuman Barry had fought.

"Danton Black. He's a bio geneticist. Specialized in therapeutic cloning, growing new organs to replace failing ones." He explain to them all.

"Apparently Stagg stole his research and then fired him." Caitlin adds.

"I saw Black create duplicates from his own body." Barry gets to his feet, thankful of Caitlin keeping her hand on his arm to steady him when he does.

"That's pretty ironic. The guy specialized in cloning and now he can make Xeroxes of himself." Cisco notes.

"If he was experimenting on himself when exposed to the dark matter wave, released by the accelerator explosion…"

"Meet Captain Clone!" Cisco cuts him off, yet winces when he sees the looks Barry, Caitlin and Wells give him.

"Don't worry. I'll come up with something cooler." He remarks as Barry just glances at him before starting to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Caitlin calls after him.

"Joe was right. I'm in way over my head, yeah, I'm fast but I'm no warrior. I could barley fight one Metahuman let alone six." Barry admits before moving toward the door.

"Barry. I understand, today was a setback but any grand enterprise has them and we can never learn to fly without crashing a few times." Wells says with a slight smile.

"This wasn't a grand enterprise, Dr. Wells." Barry mutters as he continues moving toward the door.

"This was a mistake."

 _Past Iron Heights_

Sitting in a room alone in Iron Heights Prison, Barry waits anxiously, spinning to face the door the minute he hears a buzzing sound before seeing the person he's wanted to see ever since his mom was taken from him.

His dad.

"Dad!" Barry calls, racing toward him, only to be stopped by one of the guards.

"Sorry, no physical contact." The prison guard instructs sternly.

"Five minutes, Allen." He adds before taking a step back.

"Sit down, son." Henry gestures toward the desk.

"Barry, how did you get here?" He questions.

"I ran here. Joe wouldn't bring me. He wouldn't let me see you, I hate him!"

"No, no, don't say that. It isn't Joe that doesn't want you to come here." Henry finds himself admitting to his young son.

"I don't want you to come here, I don't want you to see me like this." He gestures to the handcuffs upon his hands.

"You have to let him go! My dad didn't do these things. He didn't hurt my mom! It was the man in the lightning, the Lightning man killed my mom!" Barry cries to the nearest guard.

"Barry, look at me. Look at me." Henry begins to reach for his distressed son.

"Not my dad!" Barry cries before looking to his dad, a devastated look on his face.

"You can't help me. Ok? Now Joe is gonna look after you until I can get out of here." Henry promises as he fights his own tears at the look of devastation still on Barry's face.

"You just… Be the good boy that your mom and I know you are." He says, glancing toward the guard who looks away, this time not stopping Barry from hugging his dad, whilst from behind Joe looks on solemnly, he and Henry sharing a glance with one another as he's separated from Barry and led back toward his cell.

"Dad." Barry cries after him as he's taken away from him.

"Dad!" He cries again as he watches him be taken away again…

 _Central City_

Breaking out of the flashback, Barry skids to a halt, finding himself right outside Jitters.

"Detective, was the gunman apprehended?" He hears the tv the minute he enters.

"The shooters whereabouts are unknown at this time. We consider him armed and extremely dangerous. Thank you, no more questions." Eddie responds from the screen, whilst the real Eddie stands watching the TV beside Iris.

"Nice work Eddie." Barry remarks.

"Right place, right time." Eddie shrugs as Iris rubs his arm lightly.

"No, you were a hero today." Barry corrects him as Iris nods to furtherly back up his point.

"CCPD still has a killer on the loose. I should get back to the precinct, bye." He moves to kiss Iris goodbye, patting Barry's shoulder before exiting Jitters.

"So did you come here for the caffeine? Or are you finally gonna tell me what's going on with you? If so. Should we get Julian over here to?" Iris smiles at him before frowning.

"You okay?" She queries as Barry is just staring at the door which Caitlin Snow has just walked through.

 _CCPD_

"Mr. Stagg I wish you would reconsider our offer for protective custody, Danton Black has proven he is willing to kill and he's got uhh friends and trust me they're all dangerous." Joe explains as best he can to the stubborn Simon Stagg.

"I've increased my security, detective. I hope Black comes looking for trouble, because he'll find plenty." He mutters to sudden sarcastic clapping from one Harrison Wells wheeling himself out of a lift.

"Spoken like a true philanthropist. Or is it humanitarian? Sorry, I can never remember which one you're pretending to be, Simon." He mutters confidently.

"Harrison. Don't get up." He smirks.

"Ha, ha." Wells glares at him as he exits the room.

"Another fan of yours, doctor?" Joe questions.

"Can we talk, Detective?" He requests.

"Fine. For starters thought, you were right. Barry's not the only one who's special, this guy that tried to kill Simon Stagg today, he could…"

"Replicate spontaneously?" Wells finishes for him.

"Yes, we know." He informs Joe, who turns to face him with folded arms.

"Did you know about Barry? When he was first in his coma you came to the hospital and you asked me if you could take him to STAR Labs. Did you know what he could do?" He questions Wells suspiciously.

"I had my suspicions that he was affected." He admits after a moment.

"Mm-hm." Joe shakes his head at him.

"Hey, Joe. I was never looking to become a senior member of a secret crime fighting unit. You and I both know, we are the only ones equipped to protect Central City." He points out.

"Maybe, I'm more interested in protecting Barry, but of course he's set to fly into the fire right along with you." Joe mutters sharply.

"No he's not." Wells responds calmly, messing with a few objects on the nearby desk.

"Not anymore. He quit, he didn't tell you?" He reports to a surprised Joe.

"I haven't seen him." He admits.

"I'm sure it's only temporary. From what I know of Barry, when he sets his mind to something, no one's going to talk him out of it, but the next time he suits up, runs headlong into danger, he will fail. Why? He doesn't think he's capable." Wells explains.

"Doubt. Is his real enemy Joe, not what's lurking out there and as long as you continue to doubt him, he will keep doubting himself." He adds before simply beginning to wheel away.

"And for the record." He turns back one last time.

"I care about him, too."

 _Jitters_

"Well it is really nice to see you again Caitlin." Iris smiles at her as she sits beside Barry, watching him consume an abnormal amount of food.

"You too Iris. I just wanted to stop by and check on Barry. We saw each other earlier and I thought he was a little down." She glances to Barry, who fixes her with an glance in return.

"So it's not just me then." Iris calls as she moves toward the kitchen.

"Caitlin if you're here to convince me to…"

"I'm not. Barry. I didn't want you out there in the first place, do you really think I'm trying to convince you to go back out there, risking your life the way you were?" She all but hisses at him once Iris is out of earshot.

"Then what are you doing here?" He questions.

"You left upset and still slightly wounded. I wanted to make sure you were okay and that you weren't doing anything stupid." She mutters.

"That concern I'm detecting, Dr. Snow?" Barry smiles at her slightly.

"It is." She retorts before patting the table.

"Eat." She all but growls.

"Yes, ma'am." Barry responds, thinking he sees her smiling in the corner of his eye.

"I'm glad you've found yourself a generous amount of food. We do not want a repeat of earlier." She pats his shoulder, her voice still stern.

"Yeah I don't want a repeat of earlier. Ever again." He agrees.

"But you learnt something, didn't you?" She glances at him.

"I did?" Barry frowns as she raises an eyebrow at him.

"Yes you did. We do not keep secrets. Ever again." She growls as Barry nods.

"Promise?" She offers him her hand, Barry takes it in a flash.

"Promise." He nods as Iris reappears.

"Guess you were hungry." She comments.

"I shared some of it." Caitlin covers for him, taking a chip off the side of his plate as if to furtherly prove her cover.

"Also, kinda stress eating." Barry shrugs before looking to Iris.

"I came to say I'm sorry and you're right, I have been distant." He admits.

"Correct." Iris nods.

"Kind of a jerk." He adds.

"You should apologize more often. You are sensational at it." Iris smiles.

"I was thinking that myself." Caitlin notes as Barry shakes his head at the two women.

"Well Barry has been very distant the past few weeks and he did promise me he was going to tell me and his best friend what was going on with him. So Barry, what were you originally gonna tell me and Julian the other day?" She questions as Caitlin glances at Barry nervously, wondering to herself if he's simply going to tell Iris here and now everything…

"I thought I had to do something. Something I thought was important but it turns out that I'm not very good at it." Barry sighs as Caitlin rests a hand on his arm.

"Hey, Barry. Whatever it was. I'm sure you gave it everything you had. That you tried, no matter what stood in your way and at the end of the day, the fact you were prepared to do something that you thought was important, despite not being the best at it. It says a lot." She gives him a reassuring look.

"I could not have put that better myself." Iris looks to Caitlin happily.

"But now that thing is over." He glances to Caitlin before at Iris again.

"I'm here. So Iris. If you need help with a new topic for your article I could help. I mean I have connections in Star…"

"I found one!" Iris cuts him off to his surprise.

"Something that actually interests me. I know this is gonna sound crazy but it's been all over the Internet this week." She moves past Barry and Caitlin to grab her laptop.

"At a building fire. Are a bank heist…" She continues, Barry trying to ignore the looks Caitlin is giving him, both of them sort of having a good idea about what Iris is referring to.

"Even the other night when those robbers shot at the security guard he said he was whooshed outside, something out there is saving people." She gushes.

"I thought you were taking journalism, not science fiction writing." Barry remarks sharply.

"Sure it's not just a trick of the light? A Hoax?" Caitlin tries to help.

"It doesn't appear to be and Barry, since I have known you, you have believed in the impossible. What if you were right about the night that your mom died?" Iris points out as instantly both Barry and Caitlin's mobiles begin to ring, both of them answering them simultaneously.

"Look, I told you I'm through." Barry starts.

"Yeah, I got it the first time you said it but, man you need to get to STAR Labs like, you know right now." Comes the voice of Cisco, who is currently stood in STAR Labs right in front of one Danton Black...

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading! Next chapter should hopefully be out soon. Thanks for all the kind reviews, follows and favorites, thanks again for reading and please tell me what you all thought of this chapter :)_**


	6. Fastest Man Alive (3)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Six_**

 _STAR Labs_

Speeding into STAR Labs with Caitlin Snow held tightly in his arms as he'd ran upon both of them receiving the phone call from Cisco. Barry places her down carefully before pushing her behind him as he stares at Danton Black stood in the centre of the room.

"Woah. Woah it's okay." Cisco holds his hands up.

"It's not okay! Black is here and he's… Just standing there. That's not him, is it?" Barry sighs.

"Well. I was going to tell you when I saw you but then Iris was there and I couldn't tell you that this is actually one his replicates and before I'd left to find you, I'd began growing him." Caitlin explains calmly, standing in front of Barry.

"You what?" Barry folds his arms.

"As I said, before I came after you I isolated a sample of Black's blood from your suit to see if I could trigger the in-vitro cultivation process and lean how Black multiples. So I exposed the target cells to a protein gel and obviously it replicated into that whilst I was gone." She continues as Cisco nods.

"And I was calling to tell her it worked and to get you to see it." He smiles at them both.

"Why doesn't he? It doing anything?" Barry queries.

"We did a brain scan. Involuntary motor functions are active. Little else." Wells replies.

"We think it's acting as a receiver." Cisco continues.

"The clones appear to be an empty shell without Black. I'm guessing if you shut down the real Black then you might shut them all down." Caitlin informs him.

"How do we know which ones's the real Black?" Barry ponders.

"That occurred to me given your own passing out. Black has limits, just like you. Controlling all of those clones must require a tremendous amount of physical strength so I think you should look for the one showing signs of weakness of fatigue. He's the prime." Caitlin smiles.

"It's just a theory, but one you might want to put to the test, Mr. Allen." Wells adds.

"Plus, I whipped up these high calorie protein bars for you to keep your metabolism up." Cisco passes him a bar as suddenly Caitlin shrieks as Black's clone begins to move, Barry using his speed to pull her out of harms way just as the clone is shot down by Joe West.

"Any more of them?" He asks, glancing around the room to where Wells has wheeled back a little, Cisco looking fearful and Barry, who has Caitlin still in his arms from when he'd speeded her away from Black's clone.

Noticing the look upon Joe's face when he takes in the sight, Barry places her down quickly, looking anywhere but at either Joe or Caitlin.

"Nope. I only grew one." Caitlin calls as Barry looks around in horror.

"Wait you grew what? Actually, forget I asked." Joe places his gun away.

"Why did it start moving." Barry exclaims.

"The prime. My guess is the prime is on the move, this one heard the summons to battle." Wells shrugs from his chair.

"And I'm pretty positive I know where he was summoned to." Joe grumbles before folding his arms.

"Stagg Industries."

"You should call it in." Barry retorts.

"Police can't fight this." Joe shakes his head as he looks around the rock before finally at Barry again.

"What Black's become, like Mardon… Beyond me. Maybe way beyond them too. The only person that it's not beyond is you." Joe says firmly.

"You gotta do this. I get it. So for once in your life, do what I tell you to do!" Joe instructs him as a small smile crosses Barry's face at Joe's words.

"Go stop him."

"Thank you." Barry nods as Joe gives him a smile in return, sharing a knowing glance with Wells as Barry begins to walk toward the red suit.

"Hey." He hears Caitlin comes stand behind him.

"You're gonna do great out there. You can stop him." She informs him, patting his shoulder lightly as Barry continues to stare at the suit.

"I believe in you, Barry."

 _Stagg Industries_

"Just get me those figures out by morning, okay?" Simon Stagg commands to one of his workers through the phone as he sits at his desk.

Meanwhile, Danton Black and his clones begin to ascend an escalator, guns in their hands, only to come face to face with members of Simon Stagg's new security team.

"Freeze! Don't move!" One yells.

Meanwhile, still in his office, Simon Stagg looks up at the sound of rapid gunfire, instantly getting to his feet and moving toward the door, opening it and moving outside to where his guards should be.

Yet when he reaches the place they should be he does find them, on the ground, near them stands Danton Black.

Three versions of Danton Black.

"Hello, Danton." He starts, unfazed by the replicas.

"Goodbye, Simon." Danton retorts, raising his gun to Simon Stagg, who before he even begins to protests, is whooshed out of the room by an unknown force, a man who leaves him back in his office.

"Stay here." Barry warns him before zooming off to face Danton Black, whom when he reaches the place he'd last seen him, sees multiple versions off him all over.

"I know Stagg stole your research but that doesn't give you the right to murder." Barry starts bringing Black's attention toward him.

Suddenly, Black fires a bullet, which Barry uses his speed to dodge very nearly before speeding straight into all the duplicates of Black, knocking them down like bowling pins as he moves to higher ground.

Stood on one of the balconies, Barry looks down at the remaining duplicates of Black down below, all with guns in their hands, all searching for him.

"You think this is about my job?" Hisses the Black that appears from behind him, gun in hand, aimed directly at Barry, who takes no haste in grabbing him by the throat and holding him up against one of the nearest columns.

"This is about Elizabeth." He admits.

"She was my wife." He continues as Barry turns his head, only to see an outer edition of Black stood behind him, a gun aimed at him once again.

In seconds, Barry has him down on the ground, yet that allows the Black he had trapped to get away.

"She had a degenerative coronary disease, she'd been on the transplant list for years, but time was running out, so if I couldn't get her a new heart…"

"You were gonna grow her one." Barry finishes for him from behind him, causing Black to spin around to shoot him, yet ends up shooting one of his clones instead.

"I was so close until Stagg stole my research so he could reap the glory and I got to bury my best friend. Now..." Danton trails off as he moves around, gun outstretched as he searches for the man attempting to stop him.

"I'm alone." He admits as he is suddenly thrown to the ground.

Yet, getting to his feet again he begins to spawn once more.

Over and over and over again, sending many clones of himself toward Barry, grabbing him and holding him still as others punch him over and over again.

Just kicking and punching the life out of him, more than two dozen clones.

Yet, despite the continuous beatings he is receiving Barry uses what remains of his strength to speed out of the hold they have on him, scattering a few in his wake as he moves to someplace safe.

"Remember, Barry. Fine the prime." Caitlin's voice calls through the comms.

"There's too many of them to fight." Barry protests.

"Barry, you need to isolate the prime." Wells continues.

"I can't! It's Impossible!" Barry cries.

"Barry, I told you. I believe in you. I know you can do this, ok? Because you can. I know I wasn't supportive of what you were doing before but I am now. I just didn't want to see you get yourself killed and this time. I know you won't." Caitlin says to him softly.

"And Barry, nothing's impossible. You taught me that. You can do this." Joe finishes as Barry spins around, the clones of Danton Black having followed him.

Having seen one be knocked to the ground and remembering the words of Joe and Caitlin.

Replaying them in his head like a constant mantra.

He begins to move. Speeding through the clones with a loud battle cry at rapid speed whilst trying to isolate the prime.

Time begins to slow down as he gets faster, knocking down clones down like a house of cards multiple times as he runs.

Until he sees a droplet of sweat run down one edition of Black's face.

That's the prime.

Barry uses his speed to crash straight into him, racing around one of the corridors with said prime before knocking him forcibly into one of the pillars, knocking him out cold.

Gasping, Barry looks around, once down at the unconscious from of Danton Black and then over the nearest balcony where he sees all the many clones of Danton Black lying unconscious on the ground to.

He did it.

He actually did it!

"Barry!" He hears Joe call through the comms.

"Barry are you alright?" Caitlin adds causing Barry to finally snap out of his dazed 'I am victorious' state of mind and begin to answer them.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, it's done." He smiles to himself just as he hears the sound of footsteps from behind him.

Spinning around, he sees Danton Black on his feet, advancing on him at rapid speed.

Being faster by far, Barry ducks out of the way which causes Danton Black to come to a window, which he smashes through.

In an instant Barry has hold of his hand.

"Hang on!" He calls, trying to pull him up.

"No!" Danton snarls, using whatever's left of his strength to grow himself a hand from his wrist, using it to try and pry his hand free of Barry's.

"Don't!" Barry cries but it's too late and he falls to death…

 _STAR Labs_

"Central City police officials are now confirming former employee, Danton Black…"

"I tried to save him." Barry murmurs over the TV, which he, Wells, Cisco and Caitlin are watching from within STAR Labs.

"Doesn't sound like he wanted to be saved." Wells responds grimly.

"Some people, when they break they can't be put back together again." He sighs as Barry turns to face him.

"Some people heal even stronger." He points out.

"I hope so." Wells replies as Cisco looks down at Caitlin sadly, Barry looking to the two of them, patting Wells on the shoulder when he approaches them.

"Well, at least Multiplex won't be able to hurt anyone else." Cisco smirks as Barry and Caitlin smirk at him.

"Told you I'd come up with a cool name." He grins whilst eating a lollipop, Wells, Caitlin and Barry continuing to smile at him as Barry looks upon them all.

"You know, I may be the one in the suit doing all the running but when I'm out there he long people, making a difference. You're all out there with me." He admits as they all look to him in an instant, unsure of what to say in response to that.

"Finally realized something." Barry admits as Caitlin frowns at him.

"And what's that?" She questions.

"We were all struck by that lightning."

 _CCPD_

"I think all the works done." Julian smiles at Barry as he passes him.

"Hey, Julian." Barry stops him.

"What?" He questions.

"Well. What you said the other day when Iris was here. You're right. I am being a little off but you never mentioned that before she brought it up." Barry reminds him

"Waiting until somebody else noticed." Julian shrugs.

"You should have told me. Could have pulled my head out of my ass a while ago." He nudges his best friend, who smirks.

"So will you tell me what's really going on with you?" He questions.

"Honestly Julian. It's nothing." Barry shakes his head.

"Umm it's something, Allen. Look you're my best mate you can tell me anything." Julian reminds him as Barry sighs.

"No, I meant it's nothing as in. I've been just having a really hard time adjusting from waking up from a nine month coma. There's some side affects. Nothing major or anything but it's just making things harder for me to get back to normal, like I'm not sure what my normal is anymore but I need to stop focusing on that and try and remember the me I was before the coma to. Stop ignoring my friends and hey, whenever we're both three. Let's go down to a bar, like we used to before. Remember? Friday's…"

"After work." Julian nods.

"I remember." He smiles.

"So this Friday?" Barry tilts his head to the side.

"You're on." Julian grins as he heads out of the door.

"Drinks are on you!" He calls from outside, Barry just rolling his eyes, a smile crossing his face though as he turns back to one last piece of work however he is soon interrupted again.

"Hungry?" Joe smiles at him whilst waving a box of pizza at Barry, who looks up instantly, eyes widening when he sees that there are three boxes of pizzas.

"Pepperoni, olives and jalapeños, just like you like it." He places them down.

"Thank you." Barry smiles at him gratefully.

"You were wrong." Joe notes.

"I have been wrong a lot this week, you're gonna have to be more specific." Barry retorts.

"You said that one of the things driving you to run around out there was that you couldn't help your dad." Joe says before pulling up the cover to reveal Barry's crime board, who looks on in surprise, wondering if Julian had anything to do with this.

"Did Julian…"

"He was there when I found this. Tried to keep me away from it so don't give him a hard time." Joe holds his hand up before folding his arms.

"Yet, back to what I was saying. You can help your dad. We can. We're gonna figure out who or what killed your mother that night and then we're gonna get your father out of prison." Joe says firmly.

"Together." He adds as Barry nods, a sad expression crossing his face as something comes to his mind.

"Joe, what I said about you not being my father…"

"Barry, I know. I know I'm not your father." Joe finishes for him.

"You're right, you're not." Barry agrees before smiling.

"You're just the man who kept me fed and in clothes, who sat beside my bed at night until I fell asleep because I was afraid of the dark. Helped me with my homework, you taught me how to drive and shave and you dropped me off at college. Sounds a lot like a dad to me." Barry admits as Joe smiles warmly at Barry, fighting the urge to wipe away tears he feels coming as he moves to sit down beside Barry, in front of the pizza they begin to share.

 _Central City_

As he runs down one of the many Central City streets Barry thinks to himself.

Every kid dreams of being a superhero, having powers, saving people, but no kid thinks about what it's like when you're a hero and you're not saving people. Truth is not much else changes, you still hurt and you still love, you still wish and hope and fear things and you still need people to help you with all of it and in some ways that's the best part.

"Barry, an armored car was just hijacked on Griffen Avenue." Caitlin calls through the coms.

"Get your ass over there."

"I got it." Barry calls back with a wide smile whilst continuing his thought track.

Actually the best part is this. He thinks as he just keeps on running…

 _Stagg Industries_

Sitting at his desk once again, Simon Stagg spins around in his chair upon sensing a presence behind him.

A presence which is in fact, Harrison Wells.

"Wells. Who the hell let you in here?" He questions.

"You been having a party out there?" Wells smirks.

"Oh, I'm sure you saw on TV. Former employee of mine tried to kill me." He replies whilst taking a drink.

"Former employee with the ability to replicate, faced off against a man who could move at super speed." Wells points out.

"You've seen him too, haven't you?" Stagg says with a smirk of his own.

"Indeed I have." Wells nods.

"Extraordinary. The power he possesses." He comments as he gets out of his seat, moving toward Wells.

"It's like the gods of old. Like Mercury on Earth, can you imagine if you could control his power, if you could harness it, you could change what it means to be human. The man in the red mask is the key and I'm gonna get him." Stagg declares as Wells simply removes his glasses, looking up at Stagg.

"The man in the red mask. He's called The Flash. Or at least, he will be one day." He says before promptly getting to his feet.

"What the hell?!" Stagg exclaims at the sight of Wells getting to his feet.

"Forgive me, Simon." Wells notes as he stabs Simon Stagg with a knife.

"I'm worried that you'll think this is personal. It's not. It's just that the man in the red mask, the fastest man alive, he must be kept." He rips the knife forcibly from Stagg, watching with glee as he falls to the ground.

"Safe."

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading! Next chapter should be up really soon, thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews. Thanks again for reading and please do tell me what you all think._**


	7. Things You Can't Outrun (1)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Seven_**

 _Central City_

Whether you're the slowest kid in gym class or the fastest man alive every one of us is running. Being alive means running, running from something, running to something, or someone and no matter how fast you are, there are some things you can't outrun. Some things always manage to catch up to you Barry thinks to himself as he exits a movie theatre.

"Regular movie scale, that one was a seven or an eight. Zombie movie scale, it was like a four, tops." Barry comments.

"There's a zombie movie scale?" Iris frowns.

"Did you know, Iris that zombies in fact exist in nature there is this species of fungi that infects ants which then causes the ants to attack plants." Julian informs her from the other side of Barry, who continues on.

"Which then continues on to releasing spores which in turn then infect new hosts." Barry adds happily before sighing.

"We're going full nerds again aren't we."

"It always happens." Julian shakes his head with a smirk.

"And it's totally okay. You two are still seriously the cutest nerds that I know." Iris smiles.

"Anyways, I am a lot more interested in the amazing as of late." She adds

"Because of that hoax red streak thing?" Julian glances toward her.

"He's out there! People are talking." She protests.

"Isn't there any other news stories your interested in writing. We could give you some stories from our cases." Julian looks to Barry.

"Yes. Not to mention I know three very interesting individuals from Starling City who have one hellva story you could write about. I could contact them and set something up." Barry suggests, smirking as he thinks to himself how Oliver, Sara and Slade would probably rip him apart limb from limb for setting Iris on them.

Not that he'd tell her that they're the three vigilantes. No, the whole being stranded on an island for five years would be the story Iris would receive. He remembers her actually being interested in that story when it first came out that they returned.

"Barry if the three individuals you're speaking off are a part of your nerdy world. I'm not going to have much fun with that. No this red streak thing is great. He is out there and I am going to write great stuff about him." She proclaims.

"How do you even know that he's in fact a he, perhaps he's a she?" Julian points out as Barry just wants to bury his head in his hands at Julian's words.

"It's a man, okay. I'm really intuitive about this kind of stuff. Someone even posted a picture after being yanked from a car accident. It's a red blur, leaving the scene. Here. What do you two see." She pulls out her phone for Barry and Julian to have a look.

"No red streak. In fact actually, that might be something abnormal itself." Julian retorts as Barry nudges him.

"Eddie's calling you." He corrects.

"Julian, my boyfriend is not abnormal." Iris glowers at him.

"You may be his girlfriend Iris but I have to work with that man and trust me he is not… Oww." Julian winces as Barry stamps down hard on his foot.

"Be nice. Eddie is an alright guy." Barry backs him up.

"An alright guy? He's a bloody pain in the arse. Your sister could do much better." He remarks as Iris rolls her eyes at them both.

"Standing right here." She reminds them.

"Eddie isn't a bad person. I know you two didn't exactly get off on the right foot…"

"You're supposed to be on my side here Barry." Julian folds his arms.

"I'm not taking sides!" Barry protests as Iris laughs at both of them.

"Whatever my boyfriend is. I do have to take his call. I'm crashing at his place tonight and he's supposed to leave a key for me somewhere." She informs them before taking the call.

"Hey, babe what's up?" She starts with a smile.

"Not much, just hanging out with Barry and Julian. You off yet?" She says after his reply as Barry and Julian both look at her incredulously.

"He's going to destroy her Allen. Find her someone better." Julian nudges him.

"For the last time Eddie isn't a bad… Sorry." He stops as his own phone begins to ring.

"Hello." He calls.

"Code two hundred and thirty seven on Waid Boulevard." Cisco replies instantly.

"Public indecency?" Barry sighs as Julian frowns at him.

"Wait. I think I meant a two thirty nine." Cisco corrects himself.

"Dog leash violation?" Barry tilts his head to the side.

"Who are you talking to?" Julian mouths to him as Barry shakes his head.

"Bad man with a gun in a getaway car. Go!" Caitlin calls through the phone as Barry, sighs hanging up before looking at Iris who is talking about Eddie apparently not having a door mat to put a key under and then to Julian who is just looking at him incredulously.

"What on earth was that about?" He questions as Barry just shakes his head at Julian.

"Ohh, friends of mine. Out drinking, the phone reception there is awful. They need a lift though so I better go and make sure they get home safety. Ok. I'll see you at work." Barry says in explanation.

"What friends are these?" Julian queries.

"Ohh. I. I will introduce you to them eventually." Barry nods quickly before walking across the road, making sure he's out of Julian and Iris's line of sights before zooming away, leaving only Julian stood alone.

"Well this is just bloody great isn't it."

 _Elsewhere In Central City_

As a red car speeds down a road, CCPD cars in hot pursuit of said car whilst Barry races down several roads to catch up, whilst the driver of the red car begins to pull out a gun, firing it at the CCPD officers.

"He's got a gun. Look out!" One officer calls as the gunfire continues to sound out, until it doesn't and the CCPD officers look into the car only to find it completely empty.

"Where'd he go?" One calls, only to turn around and see said driver in the backseat of the squad car with handcuffs already around his wrists.

"What the…"

 _Meanwhile In Central City_

Leaning against a wall, waiting for Iris to finish her conversation with Eddie, Julian sighs as he boredly plays angry birds on his phone, trying to distract himself from the boring as hell conversation Iris seems to be having with Eddie.

"So the key is in the mailbox. I'll see you later. Bye." She says finally, Julian looking up only to see Barry jogging toward both of them.

"Thank the lord." He muses as he approaches them both.

"Sorry about that. You okay Barry?" Iris frowns.

"Went to help a few friends in drunken distress right?" Julian looks to him.

"Yes I did. Everything worked out great." Barry nods.

"Ohh my god. I didn't even notice you were gone. By the way, Eddie says hi." Iris smiles.

"How very thoughtful of him." Julian says sarcastically.

"It was wasn't it?" Barry smiles genuinely, Julian glaring at him in response.

"You guys want to grab a bite? I'm famished." Barry admits.

"After the Mongolian barbecue we had before the movie and the extra large popcorn you had at the movie? How are you not fat?" Iris folds her arms.

"I've been jogging." Barry shrugs.

"You doing exercise? That'll be a first." Julian sniggers.

"Offensive." Barry retorts.

"But true." Iris smirks.

"Very true." Julian adds as Barry rolls his eyes at them both

"Is this national Insult Barry Day or something?"

 _A Nearby Restaurant_

"Who so public a meeting, uncle?" A man questions from within a restaurant within Central City to his uncle stood before him.

"We're dining out to show our enemies that we're not afraid. Relax, nephew." The man's uncle responds.

"I've replaced the windows with bulletproof glass. Close it up. Come, have a drink." He pushes his nephew in the direction of the table whilst another man locks the door with a key he breaks when it's in the lock with a devious smile on his face…

"Our own drivers are ripping us off. Someone is paying them to steal from us." One man speaks at the head of the table, unaware of the rapidly approaching green smoke…

"None of you will sleep until we find out who and then those thieves…" He trails off as he begins to inhale the green smoke, therefore the reason he begins to cough.

"Those thieves." He attempts to continue but continues to cough as well.

"Will draw their last breath." He adds whilst coughing, the rest of the men around the table also coughing now as the green smoke swirls around them all.

"Uncle!" The nephew calls as he watches his uncle be engulfed by the green smoke, trying to move toward him as other men try to get to the door, which they're unable to open due to the key broken in it.

Surrounded by the smoke, the nephew pulls out his gun, shooting rapidly at the glass.

The bulletproof glass…

His is unable to stop the smoke from devouring him…

 ** _Authors Note: Thanks all so much for reading, all the really sweet reviews, follows and favorites. Next chapter should hopefully be updated soon! See you all next update, please tell me what you all think and thanks again for reading._**


	8. Things You Can't Outrun (2)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Eight_**

 _CCPD_

"Last night was alright. Nice to finally spend some time with you." Julian comments as he exits the elevator beside Barry, both men with two cups of coffees in hand.

"It was." Barry agrees whilst listening in to the chatter going on around him.

"Where'd you cut him off?" One officer questions.

"We cut him off at eighth. I mean the perp was in the backseat of the cruiser before he even knew what happened." The officer, Paulson responds as Barry smirks.

"I don't think I even want to know what's going on." Julian sighs as Joe approaches the group, extending his hand toward Paulson.

"Congratulations, Paulson, on that arrest last night. Hell of a job." He comments.

"You come by later, Joe. I'll give you a driving lesson, okay?" He grins as Barry turns to Joe, watching as Julian is handed a stack of files and is not listening before speaking.

"It wasn't even him last night. It was me." Barry smirks.

"I figured. I just didn't realize you were helping people for the glory." Joe notes.

"It's not like I want a museum built to my name." Barry retorts sighing.

"Keeping wait I can do a secret from Iris and Julian and everyone. It's harder than I thought." He admits.

"I know, but it is safer that way. Besides me, you and Julian have got work to do. I did allow you to let Julian in on the whole possibly reopening your mothers case thing, even if he doesn't know about your extracurricular activities." He replies as Barry nods.

"Still not sure I like this plan." He murmurs.

"What. It's going to be fine. Julian won't find out even if he's working on this with us. You know I had a friend who worked with these three secretive people and even before they told her the truth apparently she still worked and did stuff for them." Barry shrugs.

"Do I want to know what you're talking about?" Joe folds his arms.

"Probably not." Barry admits whilst looking to Julian who is now following them.

"Did I miss anything?" He questions as Barry looks to Joe.

"Nope. Nothing at all."

"You are an appalling liar you know Allen." Julian retorts.

"We have work to do and when I say work I mean…" Barry trails off as Julian nods.

"That's more like it Barry. Honesty!"

 _Barry & Julian's Lab_

"The dust on that." Julian folds his arms as Joe slams a box down on the table.

"I know. Dragged this right out of storage." Joe replies.

"It's the evidence from Nora Allen's case, right?" He looks to both of them as Barry nods, a solemn look on his face.

"Yep. The same evidence me and you have been through thousands of times." Barry glances to Julian.

"Before your story about what really happened that night, the Lightning Storm, the man in the middle. I thought that was just a kid trying to protect his father from prison but now considering people are talking about the 'the read streak'."

"Ohh don't tell me you believe in that hoax to." Julian sighs.

"I saw it with my own eyes at Mardon's farmhouse and if whatever that thing is, is real. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so dismissive about this and because of my new opened mind. The three of us are gonna go through every scrap of evidence until we find something that perhaps helps us." Joe informs them both.

"Well. Even if I think the red streak is nothing but a hoax. I have always tried to keep an open mind when it comes to this case. So I'm in." Julian nods as Barry gives his best friend a grateful smile before shrugging his shoulders.

"It took the jury fifty two minutes to come back with a verdict of guilty." He reminds them.

"They moved too fast, which is why the three of us have gotta take our time." Joe sighs as he approaches the box.

"Barry, Joe, Albert. We got multiple homicides." Eddie calls from the door.

"Do any of you know of the Dadbinyan crime family?"

 _Crime Scene_

"Barry, Julian?" Joe calls to the two forensic scientists already on the scene of the crime.

"Anything?" He questions to them both.

"Well there's sighs of histotoxic hypoxia." Julian responds.

"English." Joe murmurs.

"The cells in their bodies weren't able to utilize oxygen. It's consistent with exposure to poisonous gas." Barry fills in for him.

"What kind of poison?" Joe frowns.

"We'll need to take a lung sample, see if we can narrow it down any." Barry shrugs.

"There are a lot of poisons out there detective after all." Julian adds.

"The only other exit was bolted from the inside. They were trapped, I was thinking someone pumped gas in from the outside but witnesses say the street was empty." Eddie explains, walking into the room.

"So then it was from the inside?" Joe questions.

"Well that means that there should be a left over canister, or some sort of container left behind." Julian points out as Barry rises to his feet.

"Yeah, I mean the gas didn't just come in by itself." Joe nods.

"Unless it had a mind of its own." Barry says suddenly.

"My god." Julian shakes his head as Barry just laughs it off.

"Eddie, would you mind canvassing again? Somebody had to have seen something suspicious and Julian as you seem to know a lot about poisons then please have a wander around, look to see if there's a canister or container of some kind." Joe requests successfully managing to send both Eddie and Julian away, leaving him with only Barry.

"Okay, explain." He says once both men are out of earshot.

"The boss collapsed by the table. This guy made it ten feet away. That guy had a chance to move off and fire three shots into the window, trying to break the glass but they all started in the same spot which means they should've been affected by the gas at the same time but instead it's as if…"

"They were attacked one by one." Joe finishes for him as Barry nods.

"My gut feeling if we're gonna solve this one." He folds his arms.

"You and me are gonna need back up."

 _STAR Labs_

"Fascinating, a Metahuman that can manipulate poisonous gas." Wells remarks.

"Is it just poisonous gas or can he control all aerated substances?" Cisco calls.

"And how is he able to formulate the connection? Is it physiological or psychological?" Caitlin adds.

"This individual can create a mental nexus using gaseous substances…"

"You mean connect with gases one a molecular level. That's ridiculously cool!" Cisco finishes Well's sentence for him with a cheer.

"They get really excited about this stuff." Barry informs a rather perplexed Joe.

"The only think I'm exacted about is putting criminals behind bars, except Iron Heights isn't exactly equipped to handle Metahumans." Joe points out.

"Then I guess it's fortunate the ones you've encountered so far are no longer with us." Wells reminds him bluntly.

"Well unless we're planning on executing every super criminal we stop you geniuses are gonna have to come up with some place else to hold them." Joe muses.

"A Metahuman prison. Sweet!" Cisco grins.

"Until we figure out a way to remove their powers." Wells adds.

"There is one place here that might hold them." Cisco says suddenly causing both Caitlin and Wells to look over at him in shock and in Caitlin's case, horror.

"You can't be serious. We haven't been down there since…" She trails off.

"It's cordoned off!" She cries, causing Barry to look at her in surprise, who then notices the sadness in her eyes.

"Cisco is right. It could be modified to act as a makeshift prison." Wells continues.

"What could?" Barry questions, unable to keep his eyes away from the evidently sad Caitlin.

"The particle accelerator."

 _STAR Labs: Nine Months Ago_

 _"Tonight, the future begins. The work my team and I will do here will change our understanding of physics. Will bring about advancements in power. Advancements in medicine and trust me, that future will be here faster than you think." Wells says to a rather large audience outside of STAR Labs before heading straight inside to see to the final adjustments that are being done to the particle accelerator._

 _"Dr. Wells. We just got the latest weather report, uh a big thunderstorm is rolling in." Cisco informs him._

 _"Well we're not launching a space shuttle. We'll be fine." Wells responds, whilst Cisco hurries away, Caitlin working away at her desk._

 _"Tahiti?" Her fiancé, Ronnie Raymond frowns from beside her._

 _"I know it's a long flight, Ronnie but we can binge watch Orange Is The New Black." Caitlin grins back at him._

 _"Okay, but what about Italy? Pizza and wine and more pizza." He points out._

 _"Yes, but Italy doesn't have Mai tais." Caitlin sighs as she gets to her feet._

 _"And a honeymoon isn't a honeymoon without Mai tais." She remarks._

 _"Dr. Wells, the accelerator is primed and ready for particle injection." Cisco informs them._

 _"Well, I feel like I should say something profound. Like, one small step for man. All I can think of to say is I feel like I waited for this day for centuries." Wells informs them all before placing his palm on the computer screen to initiate the collider._

 _"That's it? You'd think there'd be like a loud bang." Cisco sighs._

 _"If there was a loud bang, then we'd all be in big trouble." Ronnie replies._

 _"Take it from the guy who helped built it." Caitlin smiles at him._

 _"Ladies and gentlemen, we did it." Wells beams happily at his team of workers who instantly begin clapping, proud of their achievement._

 _Caitlin leaning over to give Ronnie a kiss, who smiles at her._

 _"Mai tais it is." He says as Wells opens a bottle of champagne, yet the minute he does that, the liquid begins to rise in slow motion up from the bottle, hitting the ground just as the lights begin to dim and the sirens begin to blare and a loud bang sounds out._

 _"Was that…" Cisco starts anxiously as Ronnie winces._

 _"A loud bang."_

 _STAR Labs: Present Day_

"Caitlin. Caitlin, did you hear me?" Wells calls to the rather lost looking Caitlin Snow, who had been so deeply immersed in the memory to hear.

"We're going down to the accelerator ring." Wells informs her once he gets her attention.

"Actually, Dr. Wells, I could use Caitlin's help identifying the poisonous gas." Barry says to keep Caitlin from having to go down there.

To the place he knows the man she loved died in.

In response to Barry's request, Caitlin gives him the most relived look ever.

"Okay." Wells nods.

"If that's okay with you, Caitlin." Barry looks to her.

"Let's go." She nods before getting to her feet, reaching for her coat, which Barry speeds into her hand.

"Thank you." She smiles at him.

"Don't have too much fun without us." Cisco calls as Caitlin and Barry exit the room, heading down the corridor toward the exit.

Barry freezing in place like a statute when Caitlin suddenly grabs his arm, squeezing it tightly.

"Thank you." She whispers as Barry smiles.

"Anytime."

 _CCPD_

"So welcome to the CCPD." Barry grins as he and Caitlin enter the precinct.

He'd never anticipated this to be a part of his day.

Showing his crush around the place he has his day job.

Knowing that he's probably going to have introduce her to Julian today as well.

Nope, he hadn't anticipated any of this.

"So this is your day job?" Caitlin glances around the precinct with a smile.

"Mm-hm." Barry nods, trying to stop himself from grinning like a complete idiot.

"Wow." Caitlin remarks.

"I'm gonna rip out your hearts and eat them for lunch." A prisoner states in passing.

"Delightful." Caitlin frowns as Barry just shakes his head.

"We get some odd ones." He shrugs.

"I can see." She smiles.

"Lab rats, I need prints off this gun, pronto." An officer passes Barry him a gun, whilst Caitlin looks at him sympathetically.

"Allen! Where there hell is the fiber analysis on the Orloff case?" Singh yells to him.

"Upstairs. It's all finished, I can just run upstairs and bring it down." Barry informs him.

"With you that could be three days! I'll go with you and who are you?" He glances to Caitlin as Barry races toward the stairs.

"Dr. Caitlin Snow. Barry's personal physician." She replies as they head up the stairs toward Barry and Julian's lab, which Barry is already in, speeding around and looking for the fiber analysis Singh requested.

"The fiber analysis for the Orloff case." He presents it to Singh the instant he reaches the lab with Caitlin.

"Like you asked for, sir." He adds whilst handing it over to him, exchanging a secret smile with Caitlin as he does so.

"Clean up your lab. It's a mess." Singh mutters as he leaves the lab.

"It's Julian's mess to." Barry can't help but add.

"Somehow I doubt that." Singh calls from a distance away.

But it is. Barry thinks to himself but leads Caitlin into the lab anyway.

"It is a little messy." She comments.

"I did just speed around it like a maniac." Barry replies.

"I gathered." She smiles.

"You can sit at Julian's desk. He won't mind." Barry moves toward Julian's desk, kicking rubbish of his chair and straightening out his desk to make it somewhat presentable.

"Julian hu." She remarks.

"Oh we work together. We share this lab. He's also my best friend." Barry informs her.

"I know." She nods as Barry frowns.

"Wait? How do you know about Julian?" Barry folds his arms.

"He was always visiting you when you were in your coma. He was little um…"

"Obnoxious?" Barry glances up at her.

"Sometimes." Caitlin agrees before adding.

"He wasn't exactly the most open minded about STAR Labs. He thought you being with us during your coma would kill you. He softened a little but still. I don't blame him for thinking that though." Caitlin says quickly.

"Speak of the devil." Barry smiles, glancing toward the door Julian just entered through.

He hadn't even thought that Caitlin must have met Julian before during his coma days.

Of course Julian was there visiting him.

"Still trying to narrow down those poisons. Not getting that far to be honest. Ohh. Dr. Snow. This is a surprise." He looks up at her, before at Barry.

"Why are you here?" He folds his arms.

"Ohh Caitlin has probably more knowledge about poisons that both of us put together. I figured she could possibly help us and she was kind enough to agree to help." Barry explains as Caitlin nods.

"And what have you done to my desk?" He looks to Barry.

"Caitlin has to sit somewhere and yours to be honest was the most presentable." Barry shrugs as Caitlin passes him.

"Yours isn't that bad Barry. It looks personal, despite the um, empty pizza boxes." She smiles as Barry grins back, Julian folding his arms at the two of them.

"Well, you're more than welcome to make yourself comfortable. To be honest you were the only person I did like during the visits to STAR Labs." Julian murmurs.

"Thank you." Caitlin replies.

"Is there anything I can get you. Drink, snack. I mean there's stuff in here but I can go get something fresh?" Barry suggests kindly.

"I'm good thanks Barry." Caitlin glances up at him as Barry nods, looking to where Julian is giving him a look.

"Wow you are honored. I'll ask for something fresh and Barry will always give me something that he found in our mini fridge which is always about six months or so out of date." Julian remarks as Barry glares him.

"Don't you have work to be doing Julian?" Barry questions.

"I do in fact. I have to get back over to the crime scene soon. Walk with me to the lift?" He requests as Barry closes his eyes.

"Perhaps I should…"

"Ohh Barry go. I can find my way around in here." Caitlin smiles as Barry sighs before reluctantly following Julian out of the lab.

"Good to see you again Dr. Snow." Julian calls in farewell.

"You too!" She calls back as Barry follows Julian, who nudges him the minute they're out of Caitlin's earshot.

"So… Care to fill me on how long you've had a crush on that woman?"

 _West Residence_

"The lighting was in the house. I told my son to run, he disappeared and that's when I saw the blood." Henry Allen proclaims from the tape Joe is currently watching on his laptop.

"Your prints are on the murder weapon." A man points out.

"I needed to stabilize the knife. I'm a doctor!" He protests.

"I was trying to save her. I didn't kill my wife! Joe! Tell them! You know me. Our kids are best friends. You tell them, Joe!" He yells to the camera. Joe shutting up the laptop the instant Iris jogs down the steps.

"Do I even wanna know what you were looking at?" She questions with a laugh.

"It's just work. Some old cases weren't filled properly." He replies as someone knocks loudly on the door.

Moving toward the door, Iris opens it to reveal Eddie.

"Detective, what are you doing here?" She questions formally as Eddie freezes upon seeing Joe behind her.

"Joe. I thought you were at the morgue." Eddie queries.

"I decided to bring some work home. Why are you here?" He questions, advancing on Eddie whilst doing so.

"Yes, well, I've been looking for you. I thought maybe we could go back to the crime scene, re canvass see if we missed anything." He says quickly, those not being his original plans.

"Always work the case, right? That's what you taught me." He adds quickly with a smile.

"Well, you've been listening. Okay, let's hit it." Joe agrees with a smile of his own.

"You mind if I use your bathroom?" Eddie queries.

"First door on the right. I'll be in the car." Joe replies as he approaches Iris.

"Bye, baby."

"Bye, dad." Iris smiles as he exits the house, Eddie automatically exiting the bathroom at the exact same time.

"Okay. This has got to stop. I came here to surprise my girlfriend and now I'm going to a crime scene with her dad. Not exactly the afternoon I was planning." He groans.

"I know. It's just not the right time to tell him." Iris sighs.

"When is, Iris?" Eddie queries.

"I know my dad. He'll kill us." Iris protests as Eddie shrugs, heading for the door.

"Right now. You're killing us."

 _CCPD_

"What… What no. I don't have a crush on Caitlin." Barry stutters as he walks down the stairs with Julian.

"Right. So offering to go and get her fresh snacks, practically shoving everything I own off my desk because it's somewhat tidier than your own, those looks you keep giving her when she's not looking? That's nothing is it?" Julian folds his arms.

"I don't do that!" Barry protests.

"Mate, I was in there, watching you. You like her." He continues.

"I'm not saying no but…"

"I knew it. I knew it. Let me guess she was the first person you laid eyes on when you woke up from your coma in STAR Labs?" He questions.

"Wow you're good." Barry admits.

"You can't hide anything from me, Barry, remember?" He smirks at him as Barry nods before shaking his head rapidly.

"No, nothing can happen between us." Barry protests.

"Why not? Because her fiancé died nine months ago during the particle accelerator incident? She'll move on eventually, Barry. Who says she can't move on with you?" Julian points out as Barry frowns.

"Wait how did you know about that?" He queries.

"She was always hovering over you every time I went to visit you in STAR Labs. She never said much. I asked her annoying assistant about her. Got quite a bit out of him. Never shut up." Julian remarks.

"Cisco?" Barry wonders.

"That was him." Julian nods before adding.

"Honestly Barry, I think you should go for it. I mean sooner or later someone else is going to see in her what you do and ask her out themselves. That is unless you don't want to be with her and still want to be with that blonde from Starling City. Both are remarkable women, smart and would be able to understand you and come on, mate. When was the last time you went out with a woman? It's been so long I can't even remember! Do yourself a favor and take my advice." Julian pats him on the shoulder as he approaches the elevator.

"You're not always right." Barry mumbles to himself.

"Yes I am!" He hears Julian call from the elevator just as the doors begin to close causing Barry to groan before heading up the steps.

Yet somewhere in the back of his mind, he wonders if possibly, Julian has a point…

 _STAR Labs_

"The copper in the tube is arranged to form cavities and we can use those cavities as containment cells." Wells informs Cisco as they open the door to the particle accelerator.

"Of course, I'll have to design them to counteract Metahuman abilities but it might just work." He points out as both men look around at the large room which for both of them holds so much sadness and pain.

"First we'll have to decouple the injection system on the gantry level. I'll be right back." Wells begins to wheel away.

"Why don't I do that?" Cisco suggests.

"I need the exercise." Wells replies with a sarcastic smile, leaving Cisco alone in the room.

Alone with only his memories for company…

 _STAR Labs: Nine Months Ago_

" _There's an anomaly in the core chamber." Cisco calls from his computer._

 _"The ring structural integrity is holding." Caitlin adds._

 _"It started a chain reaction. We need to shut it down!" Wells commands._

 _"We can't do it from here. We need to do it manually." Cisco points out._

 _"Go!" Wells shouts as Cisco races out of the room._

 _"I'll come with!" Ronnie calls._

 _"Ronnie, no." Caitlin protests._

 _"I'm the lead engineer, I know how to operate the shutdown." He points out._

 _"It's not safe." Caitlin protests._

 _"Cait, I have to go." He responds sternly, moving to give her a kiss before racing after Cisco, both men moving at rapid speed toward the accelerator. Ronnie reaching the control panel to open the door first._

 _"Okay, you stay here. We've only got a few minutes before this thing blows and if I'm not back in time, you need to initiate lockdown." Ronnie commands._

 _"No way, I am not closing this door. I won't be able to open it again." Cisco shakes his head._

 _"Cisco. If you don't seal off the blast, everyone in this building will die, including Caitlin. Okay? Now promise me." Ronnie begs as Cisco looks away from him once before reluctantly nodding. The cost of not doing so, as Ronnie said would be catastrophic._

 _"Yeah." He agrees after a few moments._

 _"Set your watch. Two minutes." Ronnie instructs as Cisco does so._

 _"You're coming back." Cisco says firmly just before Ronnie races into the room..._

 _STAR Labs: Present Day_

As Cisco stares into the large room, he can almost see Ronnie racing into the room again, just like he has done nine months ago and he almost looks down at the watch on his wrist to check the countdown he set for two minutes back then.

Two minutes weren't long enough…

 _STAR Labs: Nine Months Ago_

 _Looking down at his watch as Ronnie had told him to do, Cisco realizes with a heart wrenching glance down at said watch, that the time is up._

 _The time is up and Ronnie isn't back yet._

 _He made a promise._

 _He told Ronnie he would close the door because if not, everyone in this building could be killed by the explosion._

 _All those people…_

 _Keeping his eyes on the large door, Cisco begins to activate lockdown._

 _Sealing Ronnie Raymond inside…_

 _STAR Labs: Present Day_

"Cisco." Wells calls as he approaches the man, who continues to stare into the room that killed his friend.

The room that caused him to have to make the decision that killed his friend.

"Cisco we're ready to go." Wells continues as Cisco spins around to face him and without words, moves toward him.

"It must be hard coming back down here. A lot happened that night." Wells notes before adding kindly.

"If you feel the need to talk…"

"I was just thinking… Uh. We need to nail those voltage calculations. One fault and the helium blowback could damage the mountings." Cisco says quickly to mask his sadness.

"Smart." Wells nods before wheeling after his colleague and friend.

 _Barry & Julian's Lab_

Nervously, Barry fiddles with one of the things on his desk, whilst trying not to look at Caitlin, who is still working on identifying the poisonous gas from Julian's desk.

Julian is so wrong. Barry thinks to himself.

I don't stare at her when she's not looking. He continues to think as Julian's suggestion comes to mind again.

Possibly actually considering making a move on Caitlin, but he couldn't.

Ronnie has only been gone for nine months and whilst that is a long time. Barry doesn't think it's personally right for him to make a move, him specifically.

I mean he survived the particle accelerator explosion/lightning bolt. Yes he was in a coma for nine months but he woke up, he came back.

Ronnie never did.

Perhaps every time Caitlin looks at him she thinks that. That why did he get to survive and wake up with all these crazy new powers whilst the price Ronnie paid was his life…

No. He can't make a move on her. No now, possibly not ever…

"Can I ask you something?" Barry questions, wanting to mentally slap himself, so he adds something on.

"That you don't have to answer."

"My least favorite kind of question. Shoot." Caitlin responds when she looks up at him, silence passing for several moments as Barry wonders to himself how he's going to phrase the question he wants to ask her.

"Ronnie. What was he like?" He questions carefully.

"I mean, you just never talk about him that much." He adds when Caitlin looks up at him again almost instantly.

"We met when we were working on the particle accelerator. He was the structural engineer. He liked to joke that he was basically a very high priced plumber." She smiles warmly, causing Barry to smile back as she gets to her feet.

"We were very different. You might've noticed that I can be a bit guarded, Ronnie knew how to make me laugh. He used to say we were like fire and ice. He wasn't supposed to be there that night. He was just there for me." She admits sadly.

"If he hadn't…" She trails off, thankfully saved by the bleep, sniffing slightly as if she had tears in her eyes as Barry just looks away.

"It says that there was no residue of gas in the tissue. Poisonous or otherwise." She reports as she reads out the findings to Barry.

"Must've evaporated." Barry shrugs.

"We'll need to get a fresh sample." He remarks as Caitlin moves toward him.

"Wait. This can't be right. This says that there are two distinct strands of DNA inside the tissue." She shows him the paper.

"How did someone else's DNA get inside the victims lungs?"

 _Central City Shopping Mall_

"Well, my docket was clear so I stopped by the mall to pick up your homecoming dress." A woman speaks through her phone.

"I am a great mom. I'll see you for dinner, sweetie." She smiles as she walks, unaware of the bald man following her from behind...

 _Barry & Julian's Lab_

"There's no DNA match in the database." Barry shrugs as he looks at the results on his computer as Caitlin comes to stand behind him.

"I don't understand. Why would a chemical attack leave behind another person's DNA inside the victim?" She folds her arms as something hits Barry, a horrifying thought but perhaps a plausible thought nethertheless.

"What if the Metahuman we're looking for doesn't control gas? What if he becomes it?"

 _Central City Shopping Mall_

Entering an elevator, the woman who had been on the phone, once again looks down at her phone just as the bald man pushes his way into the elevator.

"Judge Howard?" He questions with an evil smirk.

"It's nice to see you again."

"You died." She says quickly, in horror at the person stood in front of her.

"You say that like it was an accident. Remember the last thing you said to me in the courtroom?" He queries.

"May God have mercy on your soul." He repeats her words before swiftly becoming green gas that engulfs the unlucky judge…

 _Barry & Julian's Lab_

"All available units, we have a report of a toxic gas attack in the Central City Shopping Mall." A report is announced through the radio that both Barry and Caitlin hear. Barry instantly getting out of his chair.

"Barry. Don't." Caitlin warns him as he begins to move toward his cupboard.

"We don't know enough about what we're facing yet." She continues as Barry ignores her, reaching for his suit anyway.

"It's not safe!" She cries, grabbing a hold of his arm.

At that, Barry spins around to face her.

"Caitlin, I have to go." He says sincerely before speeding out of the lab.

Leaving an incredibly anxious Caitlin behind in his wake…

 _Central City Shopping Mall_

"I patched into the mall security system. According to witnesses, the gas attack was in the main elevator in the north wing." Cisco calls to Barry through the comms as Barry speeds into the mall.

"Which one is the north wing?" He questions whilst running.

"The one with the Big Belly Burger." Wells informs him as at STAR Labs Cisco gives him a raised eyebrow glance.

"I eat." Wells defends himself.

Meanwhile in the mall, a security guard is attempt for to keep people away from the scene of the crime.

"Back up, please. Keep back." He says as Barry speeds into the mall, straight toward the woman lying on the ground.

A sad look crossing his face when he realizes that she's already dead.

Having gone fast enough to slow everything down, Barry takes a moment to look around his surroundings to see if he can see anything.

Fortunately he does see something.

Green smoke seeping out of a door...

Speeding into the corridor Barry watches as the green smoke becomes a man.

Just like he'd theorized.

"Why did you kill that woman?!" He yells angrily as the man turns to face him.

"She deserved to die." He responds plainly.

"Now, go run away. I still have one more name on my list." He informs Barry.

"Don't make me add you to it." He threatens as Barry speeds toward him to land a punch, yet the minute he does so. The man becomes smoke before once again re materializing as a man, punching Barry once in the face, who tries to punch back, only for the man to become green smoke again, the smoke itself punching Barry across the face before beginning to fill his nostrils and mouth…

 _STAR Labs_

"Barry." Wells calls through the comms upon hearing the sounds of choking.

"Barry, can you hear me?" Wells calls again.

"His vitals are weak, but he's alive, Dr. Wells. I'm sure he's fine." Cisco says just as Barry speeds straight into their desk, wheezing and choking.

"I can't breathe." He says quickly when Well's grabs his arm.

"He needs oxygen, get the crash cart!" Wells commands whilst Cisco races away, leaving Wells with the choking Barry, who he attempts to help move toward the nearest bed with his chair, just as Caitlin races into the room.

"Ohh thank god." Wells sighs upon seeing her.

"What's wrong? What happened to you?" Caitlin grabs Barry by the arms and maneuvers him toward the bed, helping him on to it.

"Can't breathe." He wheezes once more as she helps him out of his suit, Cisco running a device over his chest as he clutches Caitlin's wrist.

"Cut me open. The poison is still in me." He coughs.

"He brought us a sample." Wells notes.

"Not intentionally this way!" Barry groans as Caitlin looks down at him worriedly.

"Caitlin, we need to do a pulmonary biopsy, extract an active portion of that gas." Wells instructs her as Caitlin looks down at Barry worriedly, feeling his grip on her wrist tighten as he continues to choke.

"Barry I can't give you any anesthetic. Your metabolism will burn through it." She warns him.

"I heal quick, remember?" Barry whispers through wheezes.

"Do it." Wells nods.

"Cisco, give me the syringe." Caitlin says reluctantly as Cisco moves to do just that.

"This is gonna hurt a lot." Caitlin warns him again finding herself gripping his arm as he continues to hold her wrist.

"It's a small needle. You probably won't feel it." Cisco calls encouragingly.

"You're definitely going to feel it." Caitlin corrects him before injecting the needle straight through his chest…

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading this chapter! Next chapter should be up really soon, thank you all so much for the follows and favorites and for all the kind reviews, thanks all for reading, please tell me what you all thought of this chapter._**


	9. Things You Can't Outrun (3)

_**I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners.**_

 _ **Chapter Nine**_

 _STAR Labs_

"He's going to be fine. Caitlin." Wells informs her as Caitlin sits by Barry's bedside, her hand resting on his arm as his own hand is still around her wrist.

"I was with him before he left." She whispers.

"Before he left?" Cisco frowns.

"Yes, we were in his lab and we heard the announcement about the attack and Barry he just went straight there but the last things he said to me…" She trails off, shaking.

"What?" Cisco rests a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"The last things he said to me were exactly like the last things Ronnie said to me." She admits, using her free hand to wipe the tears she feels coming, just as Barry begins to move, causing Caitlin to sigh in relief as he begins to tilt his head to face them, his eyes still closed.

"The Streak lives." Cisco grins the minute Barry faces him.

"You'd be dead if your lung cells didn't regenerate so quickly." Caitlin informs him grimly as he releases her wrist minutes upon realizing that he was holding it.

"My chest feels like that one time I had a cigarette." Barry groans as Caitlin gives him a surprised glance, folding her arms.

"Yeah. Teen me lived for danger." He sighs with a smirk.

"This isn't funny. You could have…"

"I didn't." Barry cuts her off.

"Now that we have his sample. We'll get to work." Wells announces from his desk.

"Analyzing it, figure out the poison maybe get a clue as to his human identity." He adds.

"Or at least a way to stop from turning into a mist." Cisco nods before grinning.

"The Mist!" He suddenly yells.

"Okay, that's his name. End of discussion." He beams.

"I have to get to the station." Barry murmurs.

"You should be resting." Wells calls.

"I have to talk to Joe." Barry shrugs before heading out of the room.

 _Barry & Julian's Lab_

"Joe. I had him." Barry exclaims the minute he steps into his office and sees that only Joe is in the room, who closes his book upon seeing Barry.

"The Metahuman we were wrong he's not controlling airborne toxins he can literally transform himself into poisonous gas." Barry sighs.

"That's new." Joe remarks as he moves to get to his feet.

"The victim was a judge. We're checking out some of her old cases to see if there's a connection." Joe informs him.

"I was too late. I should've been faster." Barry murmurs.

"Focus on the job. Don't think about that right now." Joe suggests gently.

"You don't wanna know what I'm thinking about." Barry sighs, moving past Joe so he can go stand near the window.

"My dad has spent fourteen years in a six by eight foot cell for a crime he didn't commit. I couldn't save my mom, but I can save him." Barry admits.

"Didn't I promise you that we would get your father out of prison together?" Joe points out.

"I don't need your help Joe. Or Julian's. I could be in and out of there with my dad before anyone even sees me." Barry retorts.

"Okay. You break him out of there. Then what? He's on the run for the rest of his life and something tells me that he's not as fast as you are." Joe reminds him gently.

"You don't know what it's like." Barry whispers.

"You think that I don't understand what you're feeling? I have been a cop for almost as long as you've been alive. So you should know that putting on that suit does not make everybody safe. For every person you save, there's gonna be somebody that you can't and the hardest thing you're gonna have to face is not some monster out there with powers. It's gonna be that feeling of uselessness when you can't do anything or the guilt that weighs on you when you make a mistake." Joe explains carefully to a rather silent Barry before getting to his feet, giving Barry a sad smile.

"Some things, Barry, you can't fight." He sighs whilst walking toward the door of the lab. "Some things you just have to live with."

 _CCPD_

Walking into the main part of the precinct Iris approaches Eddie who is sat working at said desk, currently in the midst of a phone call.

"Yes, I'm writing this down. Red Streak at the mall during the gas attack. Thank you for calling." He says before placing down the phone looking to Iris with a sigh.

"Never fails. Tip lines always bring out the potheads and the crazies." He remarks.

"Did they get a good look at the Streak's face?" Iris questions gleefully.

"Not you too." Eddie groans before getting to his feet with a frown.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"We need to talk. I thought about what you said and…"

"I know what you're gonna say. I understand, I'm your dad's partners…" Eddie cuts her off with another sigh, already seeing where this conversation is headed.

"No, no, no. You don't understand. I have never really had a serious boyfriend before and between dad and Barry and work, my life has been full and I really like you but I thought that if I told my dad about us then it would make this real and suddenly it's something that I could lose or screw up." Iris admits to him honestly.

"I wanted it to be real." Eddie shrugs in response, starting to walk away.

"Eddie." Iris grabs his arm, turning him around to kiss him in the middle of the precinct.

It doesn't matter that people stop and stare.

She and Eddie are together and that's reality.

 _STAR Labs_

Upon reentering STAR Labs Barry looks around the room, already noticing the absence of Caitlin, whom he finds in the room where they keep the treadmill.

She's alone. Sat on the edge of the treadmill, her hands clasped together.

Without a second thought Barry is moving into the room, going quickly enough even without the use of his speed to get to her side, which is where he sits, bravely. Right beside her, already having a good idea about what's upset her.

For which he already feels awful about.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to scare you, leaving like that." He starts carefully.

"It's okay. I get it. You had to go." She responds, turning to face him as she does before bowing her head slightly.

"It's just… That's the last thing that Ronnie said to me that night." She admits softly as Barry looks at her, trying to keep the shock he's feeling hidden at her words.

A million and one thoughts running through his head all at once as he tries to think of something, anything to say to her.

"My mother died fourteen years ago. I used to think that the further away I got from it, the less it would hurt but some days the pain… It's worse than the day that it happened." He admits to her before finding himself quoting Joe's words from earlier.

"Some things you can't fight." He shrugs to silence from Caitlin for several moments before she finally looks up again.

"For so long I've been terrified of going into that hole." She reveals quietly.

"Well what if I went with you?" Barry asks kindly but nervously.

"You'd do that?" She asks almost a second later.

"Of course." He nods, waiting until Caitlin is stood before standing himself.

Noticing that she's clenching her fists together, Barry bravely reaches out for one of her hands, all expecting her to push him away, she doesn't. Instead, to Barry's surprise she grips on to it tightly before slowly beginning to walk out of the room.

The two of them, side by side, walking toward the place that holds so much pain and devastation for Caitlin.

She lets go of Barry's hand when she approaches the door.

Barry hanging back a little bit as she walks forward.

Forward to the exact place it happened…

 _STAR Labs: Nine Months Ago_

 _Racing along the corridor at top speed, Caitlin races into the hole where Cisco is stood by one of control panels, Ronnie no where to be seen._

 _"Where's Ronnie?! Cisco, where is he?" She cries as she approaches him._

 _"He's still inside." Cisco starts slowly, unsure of how to tell Caitlin exactly what has happened and that possibly Ronnie isn't going to come back from this._

 _"What? Open the door." She commands._

 _"I can't. We're in lockdown mode." Cisco replies carefully._

 _"Cisco, we have to get him out of there or he'll die." She cries._

 _"Cisco can you hear me?!" Ronnie voice suddenly yells through Cisco's radio._

 _"Ronnie, it's me." Caitlin responds for him._

 _"Caitlin." Ronnie starts, crouched beside the door whilst things spark and break down around him._

 _"Is Cisco there?" He adds._

 _"Yeah, Ronnie, I'm here. I'm listening." Cisco says quickly._

 _"I adjusted the magnets to redirect the beam to try and vent the systems so the blast goes up and not out." He informs him._

 _"I'll need to reset the particle parameters to compensate." Cisco responds._

 _"Cisco's doing it." Caitlin calls when Cisco places the radio in her hands._

 _"There has to be another way out of there. You have to find it!" Caitlin practically begs him whilst Cisco is working on resetting the particle parameters._

 _"Cait… The chain reaction, I can't reverse it. The doors need to stay shut to protect you. Are you still there?" He questions after another spark fires._

 _"I'm here." Caitlin says through her tears._

 _"Caitlin whatever happens…" Ronnie starts but is cut off by the vastly approaching blast._

 _"Ronnie?" Caitlin whispers as the blast finally hits._

 _"RONNIE!_

 _STAR Labs: Present Day_

"He saved so many lives that day and no one will ever know what he did." Caitlin whispers after the memory passes, knowing and feeling relived that Barry is behind her right now.

"I do." Barry says softly, moving swiftly to her side, watching as she turns to face him.

"He was a hero." Barry adds carefully, noticing the tears appearing in Caitlin's eyes.

"I didn't want him to be a hero. I wanted him to be my husband." She says through her tears as, unsure of what else he can do, Barry finds himself wrapping Caitlin in a tight embrace, holding her close to him, trying to comfort her in anyway he possibly can…

"Barry, Caitlin, you guys down there? You gotta come look at this." Cisco calls suddenly through the comms, causing Barry and Caitlin to instantly pull apart from their embrace, beginning to move back toward the room they left.

Barry freezing almost when Caitlin grabs his arm whilst they walk.

"Thank you." She whispers.

"Anytime." Barry gives her a kind smile, sighing slightly when she pulls away just as they enter the room, where Cisco is stood by a board.

"Hey, check this out. It's a 3D molecular model of the gas we retrieved from your lungs." Cisco informs them both.

"We have identified the toxin." Wells adds dryly.

"Hydrogen cyanide?" Barry frowns.

"Well, what's interesting is what's mixed in with the cyanide, a sedative." Wells explains.

"Of course. The night if the explosion, find out if anyone was executed." Barry says suddenly, everything suddenly beginning to make sense to him now.

"Why?" Wells frowns.

"That sedative is given to criminals on death row before they go to the gas chamber and breathe in the hydrogen cyanide." Barry explains as Wells nods.

"That's right." He notes just as something flashes up on Caitlin's computer.

"There was someone executed the night of the particle accelerator explosion. Kyle Nimbus." She brings up his image on screen for them all to see.

"That's him." Barry confirms upon seeing the picture.

"He was a hit man for the darbinyan crime family. They turned on him and testified. Judge Theresa Howard was the judge at his trial. She sentenced him to death." Caitlin reads.

"He must have been affected by the explosion whilst he was being gassed." Wells assumes.

"Records say that the execution was completed." Cisco adds.

"That's why there wasn't a match." Barry gasps, looking toward Caitlin.

"The database only has records of the living." He remembers.

"Right." Wells nods as something hits Barry, something from his first fight with Nimbus.

"There was one more person on his list. Check the arrest record. Who caught him? That could be his next attack." Barry guesses, moving to Caitlin's side as she types, a horrified look on her face appearing as she sees exactly who the arresting officer was, a similar look crossing Barry's face as she tilts the computer toward him.

"Barry, the lead detective..."

 _Iron Heights_

"I'm here to see Henry Allen." Joe West announces at the front desk.

"Sign here, personal effects here." The on desk officer explains, passing him a tray, whilst meanwhile, unbeknownst to both of them, Kyle Nimbus is making his way toward the prison, morphing into green gas to seep through the metal gates..

 _CCPD_

Upon hearing his phone ring for the umpteenth time, Eddie calmly reaches for it.

"Eddie." Barry starts the instant the call connects.

"Barry, what's up?"

"Hey, do you know where Joe went? He's not picking up his cell and Julian hasn't seen him." Barry asks quickly.

"I'm not sure…"

"Eddie. It's really important that I speak to him, I need to know where he went." Barry presses on, knowing that Eddie is withholding the truth from him by his tone of voice.

"He went to Iron Heights to see your dad." He admits.

"Thank you." Barry says gratefully before hanging up abruptly, feeling Caitlin grab his arm.

"Barry I've reversed engineered an antidote to the toxin. I hope you won't need it." She says sincerely whilst placing a injection needle in his hand.

"I hope I don't to." He murmurs as he moves toward his suit, Caitlin still gripping his arm.

"Please be careful." She all but begs as Barry tries to smile at her.

"Hey, you know I'll be back before you know it." He says, speeding into his suit and leaving the room in a matter of seconds, leaving Caitlin stood there, once again clenching her hands into fists.

"I hope so."

 _Iron Heights_

Entering the visiting room, Henry Allen looks surprised to see Joe sitting on the opposite side of the glass.

"What are you doing here? Is Barry alright?" He questions sharply.

"He's fine." Joe nods so not to worry Henry anymore than he already is starting to be.

"Then to what do I owe this visit?" Henry leans back in his chair.

"I know I should've come by to see you sooner." Joe admits.

"You just weren't up for chitchat with a man who murdered his wife in front of his own son?" Henry retorts sarcastically as Joe sighs.

"Except now I know that you didn't kill your wife."

 _Meanwhile…_

"Barry, I pulled up the specs on Iron Heights Prison. Its maximum security but I think I can talk you through breaking in there." Cisco calls through the comms as Barry races at top speed down the street.

"Don't bother, I've been figuring out how to break into that place since I was eleven." Barry informs them as from within STAR Labs, Caitlin smiles at his words.

 _Meanwhile…_

"Some new evidence has come to light." Joe informs Henry, the two still deep within their conversation to one another.

"I can't go into detail. It's just… Look the important thing is. I'm reopening the case." Joe informs a shocked Henry Allen.

"I'm gonna find out who really killed Nora and I promise you Henry, I'm going to get you out of here." Joe vows.

"I am so sorry."

"It doesn't matter that you didn't believe in me because you always believed in my son." Henry says in response, the two men looking at one another for several minutes until they are interrupted by the sound of the guard behind them seemingly starting to choke on something.

Something they soon see is green gas, watching as it fills the room at an alarming rate.

Getting to his feet, Joe moves toward the green gas which morphs into Kyle Nimbus…

"Nimbus?" Joe says in a nervous tone.

"You're supposed to be dead…"

"Same to you." Nimbus hisses before becoming gas once more and beginning to enter Joe.

Unable to do a thing behind the glass, Henry looks on in horror as Joe collapses.

"Joe? Joe!" He calls to him, banging on the glass.

"Help! Guards! Somebody help!" He yells trying to get someone's attention, anybody's.

Yet suddenly something appears in the room, a person in a red suit.

Looking down at Joe's convulsing form, Barry quickly sticks him with the antidote Caitlin made for him.

Believing it to have worked, Barry looks toward the glass where his father is looking on.

Thinking quickly, Barry uses his speed to instantly blur his face so that his father doesn't see that it's him.

Turning back to Joe, Barry notices that he's regained consciousness slightly.

"Go get him." He murmurs weakly and that's the only words Barry needed to hear.

 _Elsewhere…_

With his list complete, Kyle Nimbus walks confidently down the road, only stopping when the man in the red suit comes to a speeding stop in front of him.

"So. You come to finish what the gas chamber couldn't?" He questions.

"You're going somewhere where you can't hurt anyone ever again." Barry responds.

"Wrong." Nimbus replies with an eerie smile before morphing into gas, beginning to advance on Barry before just becoming bigger and bigger and bigger until Barry is faced with a wall of green gas.

"He used the antidote on Joe." Barry hears Caitlin speak through the comms, probably to either Cisco or Wells before addressing him.

"You need to stay away from him Barry. Do not breathe him in!" Caitlin commands loudly as Barry begins to use his speed in an attempt to get away from the cloud of gas that has suddenly started approaching him.

"I'm not sure how that helps me guys." Barry calls back after narrowly escaping the green gas once again, watching as it morphs back into Kyle Nimbus.

When he starts to walk toward Barry, Barry uses his speed to try and knock him down, yet the minute he begins to use his speed, Nimbus returns to gas form, causing Barry to just pass straight through him, landing on the other side of the road.

"You can't fight him Barry. Just keep him coming at you. That should zap his strength." Caitlin suggests through the comms.

"Gas is the least stable form of matter. This Metahuman will not be able to stay in his mist form for very long, his particles will need to reform." Wells adds helpfully.

Standing back in front of the cloud of mist, Barry uses his speed to move from side to side whilst ducking the vastly approaching mist once again, taking Caitlin and Well's advice on board as he does so.

Speeding as fast as his can from one end of the road to another, then when he's completed one lap with The Mist following him, he repeats the process going from one end of the road to the other once more, The Mist continuing to follow him.

Stopping, Barry sees that it is in fact working as the minute he stops running, The Mist does do and he morphs back into Kyle Nimbus for several moments before returning to mist form, racing after Barry once again, whom this time has to dive to the side to escape him.

Landing win a grunt, Barry moves to get up, watching as The Mist begins to return to his Kyle Nimbus form, who begins to breathe heavily, an exhausted look upon his face.

Whilst tired himself, Barry uses his speed in one last move to punch Nimbus backwards so hard that he hits the ground a few feet away.

Barry approaches him with a smug look on his face.

He did it. He stopped him and this time the Metahuman survived.

"Barry." Caitlin calls through the comms.

"Barry!" She yells when she gets no response from him.

Realizing he was in his own world, Barry places his hand to his comms, a smile on his face.

"We win."

 _Central City General_

Opening his eyes from his hospital bed, Joe smiles at the sleeping Barry on the chair across from him.

"It's been a while since I watched you sleep." Joe informs him with a smile when Barry opens his eyes.

"Rescuing you is exhausting." Barry replies with a smile.

"I really miss the ability to be able to ground you." Joe chuckles.

"Sorry I went and grew up." Barry responds as he gets to his feet, moving to Joe's side and taking his hand.

"I could've got my dad out of Iron Heights tonight." He sighs.

"I know." Joe nods.

"But you were right. That's not the way." Barry says with a sad smile as Iris, Eddie and Julian appear at the door.

"Daddy." Iris whispers as she races to his side.

"Oh, baby, I'm fine, don't worry." Joe pulls her into a close embrace.

"Brought us some coffee." Julian passes Barry a cup.

"You are a life saver." Barry smiles happily before looking to where Iris and Eddie are stood together, guessing that this is the moment that they're going to tell Joe the truth.

"We'll let you guys talk." Barry says, he and Julian moving toward the door.

"Get well soon detective." Julian calls politely in farewell as the two friends exit the room.

"Partner." Joe looks up at Eddie the minute Julian and Barry are gone.

"You two arrive at the same time?" Joe looks between them both suspiciously.

"Dad, we have something that we need to tell you." Iris starts carefully.

"Dad the thing is…"

"You two are dating." Joe finishes for her, watching the shocked expressions that cross both Eddie and Iris's faces.

"I know."

"You do?" Iris whispers.

"I am a detective remember? And both of you are lousy liars." Joe informs them as Iris lets out a relieved sigh, a smile crossing her face.

"So you're not mad?" Eddie asks hopefully.

"Oh, I'm mad. If the doctor hadn't confiscated my gun we'd be having an entirely different conversation." Joe glowers at Eddie.

"Well, I should let you two talk. I'll just be outside, looking into witness protection program." Eddie says nervously, practically racing out of the door.

"I'm sorry." Iris starts the second Eddie is out of the door.

"Iris, this is going to be complicated. You know I don't like complicated." He reminds her as she looks down at her hands.

"You like him?" He questions only a moment later.

"Yeah, I do." Iris replies softly.

"Then I will try my hardest not to shoot him." Joe grumbles as Iris smiles warmly.

"That is all I ask."

 _STAR Labs_

"Will it hold?" Caitlin queries as she, Cisco and Wells look on at the containment cell they have seemingly successfully trapped Kyle Nimbus inside.

"The barrier's powered by an eight point three tesla super conducting electromagnet which is about a hundred thousand times the strength of Earth's magnetic field." Cisco responds.

"In other words, yes." Wells looks to Caitlin as Nimbus continues to pound on the doors.

"He's mad." Wells notes as he watches Nimbus attempt to turn into gas again.

"Well, good night." Wells says as he closes up the containment cell.

"So, we're just supposed to get used to working above a makeshift prison housing evil people with superpowers?" Caitlin frowns.

"You'd be surprised what you can get used to Caitlin." Wells responds before wheeling away, leaving only Cisco and Caitlin, whom had already began to follow Wells.

"Caitlin…" Cisco calls after her, causing her to turn around.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He requests.

"Sure, what's up?" She asks.

"It's about the night that Ronnie died. I…"

"Look. Cisco, I'm okay. I thought coming down here would undo me but thinking about what Ronnie did to protect us. It just made me love him more." She admits softly as Cisco smiles in response, nodding as a smile crosses Caitlin's face.

"Come on. I need ice cream or a drink. I'll call Barry to join us and we'll see what we hit first."

 _Iron Heights_

Sitting across from his father once again, Barry reaches for the phone to speak with him.

"Joe's gonna be okay." Barry informs him as Henry smiles and nods in response.

"You know, lately I've been thinking about mom, a lot. I miss her." Barry admits.

"Did I ever tell you about the time you learned to walk?" Henry queries.

"A couple of times." Barry laughs softly.

"Everyone was walking before you. All the little babies running around the neighborhood. Not you, but your mom was never worried. She just said, 'he'll walk when he has someplace to go' and sure enough the first time you took a few steps you moved so quickly, you didn't just walk. You started…"

"To run." Barry finishes for him, a sad look crossing his eyes.

"And you ran to your mom, Barry. Right into her arms." Henry continues, sad smiles crossing both of their faces as he says the words.

"You had someplace to go."

 _Central City_

'I thought being the fastest man alive would make my life easier. That I could outrun anything. Turns out no one can outrun pain.' Barry thinks to himself as he hears a woman crying out for help on his travels.

'Life is tragic.' He thinks as he stops the mugger from attacking the woman, placing the knife the mugger had in the woman's hand as he passes them.

'But it's also precious and sweet and extraordinary and the only way I know honor my mom's life is to keep running.' He thinks as he comes to an abrupt stop beside Caitlin and Cisco, Caitlin having called him to join the two of them for either a drink or ice cream.

"Hey." Barry smiles at them as Caitlin passes him a tub of ice cream, smiling even wider when she gives his arm a squeeze with her free one.

"I'm glad you came." She smiles back at him, Barry nods, looking between Caitlin and Cisco.

"Me too."

 _STAR Labs_

Sitting at his desk with a glass of whiskey in hand, Wells stares at Barry's suit whilst thinking back to the night of the particle accelerator explosion...

 _STAR Labs: Nine Months Ago_

 _"Dr. Wells. Dr. Wells. Ronnie did it, he vented the system. STAR Labs should hold." Cisco informs Wells through the computers._

 _"Good man. I'm on my way down." Wells replies as he begins to move, yet not to where Cisco and Caitlin are but to his secret room behind the foldaway wall._

 _Moving inside, the lights come on instantly._

 _He pockets his glasses as he approaches the main panel._

 _Bringing up an image of a young man name of Barry Allen in his lab, watching as he is struck by the bolt of lightning, a smirk on his face._

 _"See you soon, Barry."_

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading! Next chapter should hopefully be soon, well hopefully. I'm going away for a few days and I'm not sure if there's WIFI but if there is the next chapter will probably appear tomorrow as it's the first Captain Cold/Leonard Snart chapter and he is my favorite character in The Flash. Thanks for all the follow and favorites and for all your kind reviews, thanks again for reading and please tell me what you all thought of this chapter :)_**


	10. Going Rogue (1)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Ten_**

 _Central City_

'What does the fastest man alive do on his day off? Before the lightning if I wasn't still at the crime lab, I'd be at home, chilling or out with Julian but now my days off are different. Much different. The Lightning didn't just give me speed. It also gave me new friends and a woman I kinda want to date.' Barry thinks to himself whilst playing ping pong with Cisco.

"This isn't even remotely anatomically correct." Caitlin growls whilst glaring down at the board game operation in front of her.

"That's not the point, Dr. Snow." Barry grins at her, speeding to her side to make his move on the board game.

"Then what is the point?" She questions as he resumes playing ping pong with Cisco.

"To have fun!" Barry replies cheerfully.

"And to continue your ongoing training by testing the speed of your mind whilst pushing your ability to multitask." Wells reminds him as Barry speeds away from the ping pong table to make his move on the chess board in front of Wells, before speeding back to Cisco again once more before speeding to Wells again.

"I'm waiting on you Dr. Wells." Barry smirks before gleefully racing around his activities again.

 _Somewhere In Central City_

Meanwhile, on a rather empty street in Central City a van moves steadily down a road, whilst passing a motorcycle, who's rider is listening to a command from his comms.

"One hundred and eighty two seconds, gentlemen." The voice speaks, the cyclist instantly setting off in the direction of the van, another cyclist joining him, traveling side by side.

"Heads up, I think we got something." One of the men inside the van calls to the driver, both of them looking out of the window toward the two cyclists, whilst behind the van itself is a rather large truck with a crane attached to it.

Another cyclist, grabs a hook from the truck, connecting it to something on the van so it is forcibly being pulled backwards.

"Two eleven. Two eleven. We're being robbed!" One of the van passengers shout as the van comes to a screeching halt.

Once the van is stationary, the two cyclists pull the van passengers out and throw them to the ground, one cyclist jamming his gun in one passengers face.

"Hey, cool it. We have one hundred and fifty eight seconds to go." The leader speaks as he approaches the back of the van before beginning to freeze the door…

 _STAR Labs_

"Checkmate." Wells remarks as Barry returns to his ping pong match with Cisco.

"Wait checkmate?" Barry frowns as he speeds back to Wells.

"Checkmate." Wells affirms.

"I guess we still have a few things left to learn, don't we, Mr. Allen?" He smiles just as the computers begin to bleep.

"Armed robbery at Fourth and Kolins." Cisco calls to Barry, who begins to approach his suit.

"For the record, I crushed it in operation and ping pong." He notes before speeding into his suit and out of the room.

Caitlin still getting frustrated with that damn operation game as he leaves.

"It's not as easy as it looks."

 _Somewhere In Central City_

Arriving at the scene of the crime, Barry uses his speed to knock down two of the cyclists who are standing by the passengers of the van they'd started to rob.

Meanwhile, the leader now inside the van, is forcibly knocked out of it by a speeding Barry.

Mask falling off, the leader looks in the direction of the force that had knocked him to the ground in bemusement, whilst his other men begin to shoot at the passengers of the van they'd robbed.

The leader watching as the force that had knocked him down, begins to run back toward him, yet passes him completely to reach the side of the man that had been shot.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" Barry calls through his comms.

"St. Andrews, seven blocks north, two east." Caitlin replies calmly.

"Call the ER. Tell them they have an incoming GSW." Barry cries, looking behind him when he hears the sound of motorcycles, only to see the criminals getting away.

Yet, knowing his main priority is getting this man to the hospital Barry speed away…

 _Later…_

"I want all of this locked up, all the way to the end of the block." Eddie commands to the other CCPD officers on the scene of the crime before approaching the van, which Joe and Julian are in the back of.

"Tow truck was stolen. The driver of the armored car is in stable condition at ST Andrews, though no ones sure how he got there." Eddie informs them.

"Did you check the security cameras?" Joe questions.

"Camera storage drive was stolen. Guys are pros." Eddie shrugs.

"Well, they're definitely something. Everything they could have wanted to steal is still right here in the van." Julian points out.

"Including what I think they're after. The Kahndaq Dynasty Diamond. It was on its way to Central City Museum for exhibition along with a collection of antique swords." Joe notes.

"Right. Iris was trying to talk me into going, I'm not much of a museum guy but when she really wants to do something…"

"I'd say no more if I were you, mate." Julian rolls his eyes at Eddie as Joe glares at him.

"You'll never hear me say this again Albert but I think you're right and I'm just gonna walk away now." Eddie says quickly before soon moving away.

"If you do decide to kill him. Let me be there. I can help you conceal the evidence and clear the crime scene." Julian offers.

"Never know Julian. Might take you up on that offer." Joe mutters with a distasteful look in Eddie's direction.

Meanwhile, Barry rushes toward them, case in hand, all ready with his apology.

"Sorry, captain, I was at the hospital visiting a friend." He gives Captain Singh a white lie.

"There's nothing missing, surprisingly. They went to all that effort and the diamond and the other items are still here." Julian fills him up.

"Like someone interrupted the robbery." Joe gives Barry a knowing glance.

"Guard says there was three of them." Singh adds.

"Actually, it was four. I mean that's how many people I would bring if I were doing a robbery of this nature. That's definitely a four guy truck. A driver, two more to cover the guards and somebody used liquid nitrogen to open this door, so four bad guys." Barry babbles his explanation quickly.

"Makes sense. There must have been four if we think about it. They'd need a driver after all, the two to deal with the guards whilst the last one attempted the robbery itself, needed the guards taken out as a distraction so the man with the liquid nitrogen could break in. One of those canisters would have been heavy after all." Julian shrugs.

"Thank you two for your brilliant insight." Singh looks to them both, causing a surprised look to cross both Barry and Julian's faces at his non insulting words toward them both.

"I'll sweep for prints." Julian takes the case from Barry, who moves to follow him yet is grabbed by Joe.

"For somebody so fast, you're slow on the improvising." He mutters.

"Did you see anything that can help us catch these guys?" He adds.

"Yeah. One of them lost his mask." Barry smiles as a smile crosses Joe's face to.

"I saw his face."

 _CCPD_

"So look through these mug shots of Central City's most wanted and see if you can find…"

"That's him." Barry cuts Joe off, whom had given Barry a file filled with the mug shots of the most wanted people in Central City.

Barry finds that mans face in the file in seconds.

"Damn." Joe says in response to Barry's skills before looking at the picture.

"Leonard Snart." He mutters with a shake of his head.

"Leonard? That's almost as bad as Bartholomew." Barry remarks.

"Snart ain't that sexy either. Snart's father was a cop, a bad cop. Took his anger out on his kids until he went to prison." Joe informs him.

"Snart's dad is in prison too? We should start a club." Barry notes.

"He shows up, like every six months. He cases a job for weeks before he makes his move. Then he does a job, gets away." Joe explains to him.

"That's before the Streak was around." Barry grins.

"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" Joe gives him a disbelieving look.

"No, I referred to the Streak, which I'm pretty sure I can get away with talking about. I've been thinking of a new name what do you think about The Flash?" Barry starts.

"I think this is something we should be discussing in a more private setting." Joe retorts.

"Point taken, anything more on Snart?" Barry queries.

"He's been acting off these past two years. I mean what I said before he does all that but during the past two years, we've tracked him going in one specific direction each time." Joe informs him.

"Where?" Barry folds his arms.

"Starling City. We'll trace him there, then he just drops of the radar and despite the Undertaking and last years Siege there are many places in Starling he could steal from but we get nothing." Joe shrugs as Barry tilts his head to the side.

"So you think there's something in Starling City Snart keeps going back for? Perhaps it's a really big heist he's planning." Barry suggests.

"It's been discussed. That's what Julian thinks. Detective Thawne." Joe says Eddie's name with an almost growl.

"Believes it could be a someone. Woman maybe." Joe shrugs.

"Well I know a few people in Starling City I could possibly ask around." Barry offers.

"If we don't catch him this time and we trace him to Starling. Yes, but as you say. The Streak wasn't around before." Joe smirks at him.

"Coffee break!" Iris calls suddenly from behind them.

"Thought I would bring Central City's finest java over to Central City's finest." She holds out the coffee, which Barry takes excitedly whilst Joe walks away.

"Thanks I'm off caffeine." He mumbles whilst Barry looks to Iris for an explanation.

"My dad's been mad ever since I told him about me and Eddie." She sighs as they move toward the staircase.

"No, you mean he's mad at you because you didn't tell him." Barry corrects her.

"Uh, that sounds like you're taking side and also you know his I'm not talking to you but I have a whole bag full of judgmental looks I'll try on you later?" Iris glances to him.

"Yeah, I've been on the receiving end of those a few times." Barry sighs.

"Ohh you're always getting them, mate." Julian calls as he catches up to them.

"Hey Julian." Iris smile at him, offering him the coffee intended for Joe.

"You are a life saver." Julian comments whilst accepting the coffee.

"Also, on the subject of communications, or lack thereof after all of these journalism classes, I got an idea. I started a blog." She grins at them.

"What is it about?" Julian questions.

"Your brownie obsession? Cause you know, you probably shouldn't broadcast that." Barry sniggers in response.

"No something important. Something Central City needs to know about. The Streak." She smiles at them both.

"Ohh not this again." Julian groans.

"He's out there guys. Rumor has it he stopped an armed car robbery earlier." She starts as Barry and Julian both roll their eyes at her.

"I was hoping I could take a look at the file…"

"Iris…" Barry starts.

"We are not at liberty to discuss any ongoing police investigations with you." Julian points out, cutting Barry off before he can even start, or cave to his adoptive sisters demands.

"You, I understand. But you, Mr. Blabbermouth can start talking." She turns on Barry as they move down the corridor toward their labs.

"No, Julian's right. We can't discuss ongoing investigations with you and also, take it for someone who's been studying the impossible since they were eleven. Blogging about this. It's just gonna bring the crazies to your front door." Barry warns her.

"My blog is anonymous." Iris retorts.

"Still not a good idea." Julian shrugs.

"Again, Julian's right. Anonymous or not, it's not safe. You never know what kind of weirdoes are out there, trolling on the Internet…"

"I can vouch for that. The Internet is full of weirdoes and nerd rage, lots and lots of nerd rage." Comes a familiar voice from inside Barry and Julian's lab causing Barry to stop abruptly in his footsteps at the sight of Felicity Smoak in his and Julian's lab.

"That's new." Julian notes.

"Hi. Felicity Smoak." Felicity turns to shake hands with Iris.

"Iris West." Iris smiles back.

"Barry Allen." Barry says without thinking.

"Ohh my god." Julian mutters, shaking his head in disbelief.

"But you guys already knew that." Barry adds quickly.

"Nice to see you under less godawful circumstances, Miss Smoak." Julian notes.

"You to." Felicity nods.

"Wait you guys met?" Barry looks between them both.

"Yes. Ran into her on one of my visits to you at STAR Labs. Not to mention, you did tell me about her before…"

"Yes. Yes that's right. Of course. Iris. Felicity is…"

"The girl that you met in Starling City. The computer-er, right?" Iris looks to her.

"One way of saying it. The other being that. Ow." Julian growls as Barry throws a stress ball from a shelf at his head.

"You two worked on one of Barry's unexplainable cases."

"Which, long story short, was definitely explainable. Painfully so." Felicity cuts her off before moving into the center of the room.

"So the lightning came through here?" She queries, pointing to the ceiling.

"Yes. Made a right bloody mess of this place." Julian mutters.

"And hit me but yeah." Barry adds looking around nervously.

"I was just about to take a walk. Like to join?" He offers after a moment.

"Sure." Felicity nods, looking to Julian and Iris.

"Ohh they can't come. They've got work to be doing." Barry says quickly.

"Well it was very nice to meet you Iris." Felicity turns to her.

"You too." Iris nods as Felicity follows Barry out of the room.

"So, now we're alone. Sort of." Barry comments as they walk toward the stairs.

"Well It's been nine months. I miss anything interesting from your end?" He queries.

"Yeah, long story short. Turns out the stuff we were researching was being manufactured by Slade's supposedly dead and insane ex girlfriend, who previously had that stuff when she and Slade were infected by it in the island. Well, she'd come back to get her revenge on Slade, Oliver and Sara. Made loads more of those superhuman soldiers and lead a Siege that laid waste to Starling City after killing Oliver's mother and Slade, who actually wasn't really dead, she just made it seem that way. There was a battle, which I can proudly say I fought it. I even had my own costume and mask…"

"Wait what. There was a battle and you had your own costume and mask? What like like Oliver, Sara and Slade?" Barry can't help but interrupt her at her admittance.

"Yes. Well I thought Slade was dead and I wasn't channelling my grief very well and then this. This amazing friend of Slade's and mine. He showed me how I could handle my grief in a more productive way to try and get justice for Slade but as I said. Turned out he was alive and together, the team, well the team the extended edition. We stopped her and she's now rotting away in a prison on the very island Oliver, Sara and Slade spent five years on." Felicity babbles as Barry looks on in shock.

"Wow. I had no idea all this had happened. I mean. Wow. I'd heard of the Siege and I figured you guys had something to do with it but not on that scale." Barry responds.

"Slade, Oliver and Sara still blame themselves for it but we are all slowly very slowly recovering from it." Felicity says before adding.

"Iris seems very nice. Cisco mentioned to me you had an adoptive sister when I saw him in Starling." She notes.

"Yes she's amazing and I see you've already met Julian." He responds.

"Yeah he can be a little bit…"

"Difficult, rude, obnoxious?" Barry lists.

"All of the above but he's apparently your best friend?" She folds her arms.

"Yes he is. We actually have a great friendship. He's a really great guy once you get to know him." Barry points out before deciding to ask the question that's been bothering him since he laid eyes on her.

"What are you really doing here? I mean it's good to see you but do you, Oliver, Sara and Wilson need something?" He queries.

"No, no. I came because I wanted to see you. I heard you came out of the coma and you didn't call, didn't write. Didn't race over…" She grins warmly at him as the realization dawns on Barry.

"Wait. Oliver, Sara and Wilson told you? It was Wilson wasn't it?" Barry folds his arms.

"Not exactly. Honestly, I heard the four of you talking on that rooftop in Starling City that night. I'm always listening into Slade's comms and that is not as creepy as it sounds." She groans burying her head in her hands as Barry laughs lightly.

"I wanna see it." Felicity says after a few moments as Barry raises an eyrie at her.

"And by 'it' I mean your speed, in case you thought I was talking about something else, which I'm not." Felicity babbles quickly, mortified by her choice of words.

"Uh, okay. You see that building?" Barry points toward a skyscraper as Felicity nods.

"Keep your eyes on it." Barry grins before racing away from Felicity with his speed, who continues to stare up at the building as he'd told her to until he is by her side again, phone in hand.

"You took a picture of me?" Felicity asks in shock at what she had just witnessed.

"From the top of that building?!" She continues.

"Yeah, don't Instagram that." Barry suggests.

"Unbelievable." Felicity whispers as Barry grins at her.

"Your shoes are smoking!" She cries suddenly upon seeing the slight flames on Barry's feet.

"Yeah. Yeah that's fine it happens sometimes." Barry notes, putting out the sparks.

"That's why I have a friction proof suit." Barry smiles at her.

"Where did you get that?" She questions excitedly.

"I'll show you." Barry smiles at her.

"Ah can you show me that like in an hour maybe?" Felicity queries.

"Have somewhere to be?" Barry smirks at her.

"Actually yes I do. As whilst the main purpose of my visit is to see you. There is someone else I'm here to see." Felicity informs him.

"And who might that be?" Barry continues to smile.

"You know how I mentioned that amazing friend of Slade's and mine earlier?" She reminds him, Barry nodding.

"Yeah I remember."

"Well coincidently he resides in Central to so I figured I'd stop by and surprise him. He's quite like you actually Barry. Comes to Starling yet doesn't say hello to anyone but Slade and Roy and I find this out like several days later." Felicity nudges him.

"Well, you have my number. Call me when you're done and I'll show you where the magic is made." Barry grins, wanting to die on the spot at his embarrassing choice of words.

Yet Felicity just laughs.

"It really is so great to see you again Barry."

 _Somewhere In Central City_

"There's been some rumors the last few weeks. People seen a red blur tearing through the streets. What the hell is it man?" One of the robbers question.

"Maybe it was a drone. Some top secret army thing?" Another man shrugs.

"When I was a kid my grandfather used to take my sister and me to this diner, The Motor Car. Food was for crap, but the view was great. Right across from the Central City precinct. I still go there. I listen to their radios, I lean their response times." Leonard explains from where he is sat at his computer, getting to his feet to address his team.

"There are forty banks in Central City each of them within sixty seconds of police response. That's the advantage of hitting a moving target. Once the armored car called 911 we had one hundred and eighty two seconds before any cop could be on the scene. No one could've gotten there fast enough to stop us. But something did." Leonard murmurs.

"And you lost your cool." He looks up a the team member who had shot the guard.

"You know the rules. We don't shoot guards or cops unless it's the only option we don't need the heat." Leonard reminds him.

"The heat? What the hell do you think the blur is, Snart? You know. Perhaps we would have gotten our hands on that diamond if you weren't after those swords as well. I get it. Could get a good score off them but that diamond was worth a thousand times as much." The robber folds his arms.

"I explained this. I need those swords for a personal matter." Leonard hisses.

"You know what? Screw this, screw you. I'm out!" The robber snaps, moving toward the door only to be stopped by Leonard Snart himself shooting a bullet through the man.

"Well, if you're out, you're out." He shrugs.

"This blur is a man. We're gonna have to up our game, someone move him." He commands to the team mates in front of him.

"Got it." One says, dragging the now dead robber to one side of the room, out of sight before heading back toward Snart and the surviving team members.

"What the hell?!" One of the team mates suddenly yell, the two remaining instantly pulling out their own guns as someone enters the lair.

"We have an intruder?" Leonard questions from his computer, not looking up.

"Yeah boss we do. Want me to shoot her?" One shouts.

"Her?" Leonard frowns, looking up at the man's words.

"Hey. I'm guessing I probably should have called first. I was just in the area and I wanted to see you. Yeah I may have tracked your phone to actually come and see you but." Felicity Smoak shrugs from the door, nervously glancing to the two men with guns pointed at her.

"Put your guns down right now." Leonard commands in his usual drawl.

"Who is this bitch? What's your game here Snart? She one of us. She gonna blow this whole operation?" One growls at Felicity only for Leonard to pull out his own gun.

"Woah. Ok. I see your busy. I can come back." Felicity holds her hands up.

"No need. They were just leaving." Leonard mutters.

"But…" One man starts to protest, still holding the guns at Felicity.

"Leaving right now. I also think I gave you both a simple instruction." He hisses.

"I said. Put. Your. Guns. Down. Right. Now." Leonard snarls again.

After looking between one another and then at the gun in Leonard's hand, they put their guns down heading toward the door, giving Felicity suspicious glares as they go.

"Hold on." Leonard holds up his hand, causing them both to stop in their tracks.

"Apologize to my friend for calling her a bitch." He says sternly as they just stare at him.

"That wasn't a request." He cocks his gun.

"Sorry." The robber who had called Felicity a bitch mutters, not wanting to end up dead like the last guy who threatened to speak out of turn to Snart.

"Good. Now get out of my sight." Leonard mutters dismissively as they leave the lair.

"So. This is Leonard Snart the criminal." Felicity folds her arms.

"Didn't think he was real." She admits.

"Well, I can assure you, he is very real." He replies.

"Change anything?" He questions.

"Nope. Not a bit. You already told me who you are." She points out.

"There's a difference in me telling you who I am then you seeing me for who I am." Leonard retorts as Felicity shrugs.

"Well it's not like I haven't see Oliver, Sara or Slade do questionable things." She shrugs.

"It's great to see you Len." She beams, wrapping her arms around him.

"I don't hug." He grumbles.

"You do when I hug you." Felicity growls at him before pulling away.

"I apologize for the lack of manners you just witnessed from my accomplices. Even Mick is more polite then they were to you just." He muses.

"Where is he? I thought you two worked together." Felicity points out.

"Actually Mick might be in Starling City right now and Mick and I haven't really worked together since the Siege and that was only because I wanted to get revenge on that woman for one making out like she'd murdered Slade and abducting my sister." He reminds her.

"What got between you and Mick. You never really said." She queries.

"Well. You know Mick and his pyromania. He lost control and it was worse than usual, not to mention, despite the fact we ended up working with Selina. We were dealt with by her and her friend, which was entirely Mick's fault." He informs her.

"So what are you doing? Nothing legal I'm guessing." She folds her arms.

"Yes. If talking to Slade about this it would probably be under the don't ask don't tell category, yet then again. All goes to plan he might not mind me talking about my heist." He said with a slight smile.

"So I take it your coming to visit after your…" Felicity trails off making gestures with her hands, to which Leonard nods.

"I am. Well I plan to. If I manage to lose the CCPD trail." He notes.

"They follow you to Starling?" She questions.

"Yes. I'm concerned they'll see a pattern eventually. That I keep coming back to Starling City and investigate into why." He muses.

"You keep coming back for Slade." She shrugs.

"Exactly and I plan on keep coming back, for you to. After all we went through I consider you a friend." He reminds her.

"I consider you a friend to." She smiles back at him.

"Good. I mean you know me Felicity. All I've ever really had is Mick and Lisa and now I've got Slade and you and I don't intend to stop returning until Slade eventually sees my way and joins me." He smirks.

"Leonard. You know he will never leave Oliver and Sara." She reminds him.

"Hmm. Let's see what he says after he sees the gifts I've got in mind for him." He notes.

"Do I want to know?" She questions.

"Probably not." He notes.

"Thank you though, for coming to see me. Even if you did trace my phone." He folds his own arms as Felicity looks over at him, a smile on her face.

"It's as I said, Len. I consider you a friend."

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading! Thanks for all your kind follows and favorites and for all the lovely reviews. Next chapter should hopefully be soon, I just got this chapter done and figured I'd post it before I go away as I was excited about this chapter due to the first appearance of Leonard Snart/Captain Cold! Thanks again for reading please review and tell me your thoughts on this chapter :)_**


	11. Going Rogue (2)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Eleven_**

 _STAR Labs_

"Hey where were you, you were gone awhile?" Barry remarks as Felicity reaches him.

"With my friend. You know he's just that kind of person who is literally so interesting you could listen to them talk for days." Felicity explains.

"You should have brought me with you. He sounds like an interesting guy." Barry responds.

"Hmm. I'm not sure you two would get along. I mean, I did meet him through Slade."

"Ahh, yeah if he's a friend of his I probably wouldn't want to meet him." Barry nods quickly.

"So, before I left you said you were going to show me…"

"Yes. Come on." Barry grins, pulling her into the building…

 _Later…_

"And this is where my team monitors the police brands for criminal activity. We can track anything that's happening in the city. Check this out, we've got our own satellite." Barry explains happily as he shows Felicity around STAR Labs.

"I know. I've hacked into it from time to time." Felicity comments whilst looking around.

"Rude." Barry smirks as Caitlin and Cisco begin to move toward them.

"It is, of course, so wonderful to see you again, Felicity. I'm just wondering how much of our operation she needs to know about." Caitlin asks nervously.

"I'm really good at keeping secrets." Felicity replies quickly.

"Yeah, Felicity works for the three vigilantes, you know, the Arrow, the Black Canary and The Man In The Mask." Barry adds to back her up.

"There's actually more of us now. Six, I mean obviously there's the original three but we've got the Wizard, Blackbird and The Man In The Red Hood." Felicity adds.

"Sweet! Wait question, can the Wizard do actual magic because if he can…"

"Can you ask if he was in STAR City at the time of the partial accelerator explosion? Because he might be a metahuman and need help." Caitlin cuts Cisco off.

"No, he doesn't have actual magic. The name Wizard is… To be honest you'd have to know who he was to understand why." Felicity tilts her head to the side.

"I have a guess. If I whisper it to you, will you tell me if I'm right or not?" Cisco basically pleads as Felicity shakes her head.

"No sorry, unlike some people." She glances to Barry.

"I am good at keeping people's secrets so my lips are hear by sealed."

"But you know who the vigilantes are! Wait. You do know who all of them are right?" Cisco frowns at Felicity as Barry just awkwardly shakes his head.

"Holy crap. If you know who they are. Can you just tell me that The Man In The Mask is not, you know good at remembering things? I mean I did kinda…"

"Threaten his life by saying 'I'll kill your half orange ass'?" Felicity folds her arms.

"To be fair. There was two of them, even though and I told Cisco this at the time, that was so obviously a woman and a man at two different times." Caitlin sighs.

"You know, I actually really wish I'd been there for that." Barry comments.

"Ohh really, you should be grateful you weren't." Caitlin glances to him.

"Don't worry Cisco, he's not holding that against you. However, he is kinda annoyed that some of the other vigilantes found out about it and sometimes make jokes about it but I am going to shut up now before I say too much. Anyway, let's just say that my team has a similar setup but with more pointy objects." Felicity babble finally ceases.

"Welcome, Miss Smoak." Wells calls from behind her.

"Dr. Wells? The Dr. Wells." Felicity starts when she can find the words.

"Please, call me Harrison, Felicity." He replies with a smile.

"Oh, you know who I am?" Felicity looks slightly startled.

"Ranked second in the National Information Technology competition at age nineteen. Graduated MIT with master's degree in cyber security and computer sciences. I know who you are. I keep an eye out for promising talent in scientific fields. That's what brought me Cisco and Caitlin and I foresaw great things from you." He explains to her with a wider smile.

"Speaking of great things, wanna see something cool?" Barry grins at her.

"Ok." Felicity nods, a little lost for words.

"Come on." He grabs her arm, pulling her toward the room they keep the treadmill.

"If you hurt yourself showing off, don't expect me to patch you up." Caitlin grumbles.

"Hey, don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Barry replies, with a smile at Caitlin's evident worry directed at him.

"I know you will but be careful anyway." She warns him.

"Why, what are you going to do?" Felicity asks as Barry approaches the treadmill with a smirk and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Something cool."

 _Later…_

"How fast can he run?" Felicity asks as she watches Barry go at what looks to be, top speed on the treadmill.

"He hasn't reached his top speed yet, theoretically speaking." Wells replies.

"So is he really okay?" Felicity questions.

"His heart rate is within normal range for him." Caitlin responds.

"No, I mean, the lightening bolt changed him. Do any of you really know how much?"

"We know a fair amount." Cisco says in response to her anxious comment.

"If everything about him is sped up, is he gonna age faster? What would happen if he ran too fast? Would he just be running and then poof, he's dust in a red costume?" Felicity asks, worry still in her voice.

"Everything we do here, at STAR Labs is to protect Barry Allen. Trust us, Felicity. He is in very good hands here." Wells assures her.

"Wanna see how fast I can run backwards?!" Barry suddenly yells before abruptly being flung access the room and smack bang into the wall.

"Don't worry, he heals quickly too." Caitlin looks to Felicity before running her hands through her own hair.

"Thank god."

"So I see, you guys are all like super close friends now?" Felicity smiles.

"Yeah we are, I mean we did look after the guy whilst he was in a coma. I mean there's bound to be a connection." Cisco notes.

"And there is. He means a lot to us which is why..." Caitlin gets to her feet, moving toward where Barry is slowly peeling himself off the wall.

"He needs to STOP DOING STUPID STUFF LIKE THAT!" She yells.

"Yes, Dr. Snow." Comes Barry's quiet reply, lifting himself up from the ground before falling over again.

"You have got to be the biggest idiot I've ever met Barry Allen." Caitlin mutters as she moves to help him up, putting an arm around her shoulders Barry manages a lopsided grin.

"I would bring you back and kill you again if after all those months of looking after you, you got yourself killed running backwards into a wall." She growls.

"To be fair you'd probably be in all of your rights to do that." Barry admits.

"Oh I would." Caitlin scolds him as Barry just leans against her and smiles.

 _Somewhere In Central City_

Sat in a car, side by side, Joe and Eddie sit in uncomfortable, rather awkward silence.

"Ah, I don't get it. Why would Snart come here?" Eddie decides to break said silence.

"Snart's been deterred before but once he goes after something, he doesn't stop until he gets it, ever." Joe replies, not once looking at Eddie.

"Joe, I want you to know that I'm really serious about Iris. She's an amazing woman, I can really see myself…"

"Did I ever tell you about that wild night I had my last day of college?" Joe questions, with a smile, cutting Eddie off.

"I don't think so, no." Eddie responds, with a smile of his own.

"Not even after we kicked back a few beers after work?" Joe continues.

"We've never done that." Eddie frowns.

"Oh right, those are things I do with my friends and since we've never done those things, we ain't friends." Joe says sharply, glaring at Eddie.

"So there's absolutely no reason I need to know about your dating life."

"I just don't want my personal relationship with your daughter to affect our working relationship." Eddie admits uneasily.

"It ain't about you, Eddie. It's about her. So as long as we don't talk about you and her. We will be cool." Joe informs him in a warning tone of voice.

"Maybe we should just listen to the radio." Eddie decides nervously after a moment, switching it on.

Percy Sledge's 'When A Man Loves A Woman' playing out from said radio.

Wincing at the choice, Eddie switches it over.

Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' is the next song that plays.

Instantly Eddie just switches the radio off.

"Quiet is good."

 _Jitters_

Opening the door for Felicity, Barry follows her into Jitters, which is where the two decided to go after Barry healed from his small injuries from running backwards into a wall.

"Hey, you two." Iris grins at them.

"Oh we're not a two." Barry interjects quickly.

"No, we're a one and a one." Felicity backs him up.

"Yeah." Barry nods gratefully as Iris smirks at them.

"Has Barry been showing you some of the sighs in Central City?" Iris enquires.

"I bet he's been showing her something." Julian mutters from the nearby table, innocently taking a sip from his tea when Barry glares at him.

"Yes. Um, I have seen some pretty amazing things." Felicity replies.

"Really?" Iris continues to smile.

"Bet she has." Julian snorts as Iris tries not to laugh along with him as Barry just glowers at them both with a look that, if looks could kill both Iris and Julian would be six feet under.

"Well, if you've got some time, maybe we can show you some of Central City's nightlife." Iris suggests as Felicity winces.

"Oh, no, I get plenty of nightlife in Starling City."

"Oh, this is something that I don't think that you're gonna wanna miss." Iris responds, keeping the suspense whilst she puts the trey she's holding onto down.

"Trivia night at Jitters." She reveals a flyer to them.

"Eddie's not really excited about it, I admit buts could be our night guys." Iris grins ecstatically as Barry takes the flyer from her.

"Our night to win seventy five dollars worth of cappuccinos?" Barry frowns skeptically.

"Uh, yum." Felicity snatches the flyer from his hand, reading it with a smile before resting a hand on Barry's arm.

"I'm gonna go call work, check in, make sure everything's okay. I'll be back in a second." She explains before leaving the three.

"I said it before and I'm going to say it again, ask her out mate." Julian looks to Barry.

"Last time you said that I got hit by lightning less then an hour later." Barry points out.

"And you could've died, you didn't, this is your second chance. Ask her!" Julian sighs.

"Thank you, Julian." Iris smiles at him as Barry shakes his head.

"And as for you, why are you doing this?" He groans, following her as he does.

"Trivia night with you and Eddie, forcing this whole double date thing."

"Because that girl is great and she happens to come from your very rare species of adorable nerds. Why didn't you tell me more about her?" Iris questions.

"There's nothing to tell." Barry shrugs.

"It's because, Iris. He's rightfully afraid that he's got no chance with her." Julian informs him.

"She's just a friend!" Barry protests.

"Barry, girls don't just hop on trains and travel hundreds of miles to see someone that they don't like. See, this is why you need my help and why do you think you've got no chance with her? I think I remembering you mentioning competition nine months ago, care to elaborate?" Iris folds her arms.

"No." Barry shakes his head.

"Would you like me to do the honors, Iris?"

"Yes I would Julian." Iris nods.

"Don't you dare." Barry practically snarls at him.

"Well, basically Barry feels like he would never have a chance with her as there is another man that apparently shares Barry's affection for her. This man is also second in command to the CEO of a large business in Starling City. A celebrity even." Julian informs her whilst drinking his tea.

"Well. I'm sure he doesn't compare to Barry." Iris says in Barry's defense.

"Would you like me to elaborate?"

"NO!" Barry snaps at Julian who just continues to drink his tea.

"Aww. You like her and competition or not, you're going to bring her tonight, we'll have fun!" She practically cheers.

"Yeah." Barry sighs.

"Fun."

 _Somewhere In Central City_

"You wanted state of the art, Snart. I bring you state of the art, my good sir." One of the men working for Leonard informs him as Leonard, glances down at the things the man jams brought to him with curiosity.

"What's this?" He questions when reaching a silver box.

"It might not look like much but never judge a book by its cover, you know?" The man says as Leonard lifts the weapon out of the box.

"Fires highly concentrated combustible liquid fuel that ignites in contact with the air." The man informs him.

"I don't need to heat things up, I need to slow them down." Leonard murmurs.

"There's this one. It shoots out iron in liquid form, shot from long distances it can solidify, shot at a direct target, can be used to trap a target and even can encase a man in iron." The man explains as Leonard lifts it.

"Hmm could work but, I don't believe I'll require this one either but, I will keep a hold of them. I can think of two people who could find a use for them." Leonard muses as he walks toward a third box.

"That's the one then. You're drawn right to it. Stolen from STAR Labs after the incident, heh, with nothing but the skeleton security crew to guard the tech inside." The man says as Leonard runs his fingers over the weapons, lifting it into his hands.

"Emirs some sort of substance, like the other two, not sure what it is, like a white flame." He says as Leonard powers the weapon up, admiring it.

"But it's not hot, it's cold."

"Glasses look like they're made of the same tech, what are they for?" He questions.

"The glare. You'll see." The man informs him as Leonard puts on the glasses.

"And who else knows you took this?"

"Just us." The man assures him, a smirk crossing Leonard's face.

"No, just me." Leonard murmurs.

"Sorry pal." He finishes before spinning around, firing his new weapon at the man, the weapon emitting pure ice…

 _Jitters_

"Party people, who's ready to get their trivia on?" The person in charge of the trivia night event questions to instant cheers before moving to introduce the teams.

"Everybody welcome, we've got some new challengers, please welcome E=MC Hammer!" He introduces the group that consists of Barry, Iris and Eddie, Barry finding himself smiling and high fiving people close to him as they cheer.

"Well, you see I did it because E=MC squared is Einstein's formula for kinetic energy, right? And you know, 'Can't Touch This'." Barry quotes the song.

"That's great Barry." Eddie forces a confused smile.

Caitlin, Cisco, Felicity and Julian would have gotten it, Barry thinks to himself.

"So where's Felicity?" Iris asks at her noticeable absence.

"I'm not sure I told her it started at..." Barry admits trailing off only when he sees Eddie's jaw practically hitting the floor at the sight of something behind him, spinning around Barry sees exactly what Eddie does and not only does his jaw do the same but he almost falls off his chair.

Standing at the door, is none other than Felicity Smoak in a short, tight, extremely revealing black mini dress, her blonde curls let down from their usual ponytail.

"Feel free to buy yourself that dress." Eddie looks to Iris almost pleadingly.

"Heh, totally overdressed for trivia night." Felicity winces as she approaches the table.

"No, you look amazing." Iris gushes.

"Yeah, you do." Barry stutters as Felicity sees the team name.

"E=MC Hammer. It's funny." She starts to laugh, like Barry expected she would.

"See?" Barry practically gloats to Iris and Eddie, who simply look bemused…

 _Central City Museum_

"It wasn't until 1852 when the transcontinental railroad laid their tracks through this thriving cattle town that we became officially incorporated." An over excitable tour guide at the museum gushes as she leads the tour up a flight of stairs.

"That same year, the worst flood this area has ever seen hit but from that disaster rose Central City's greatest hero: Cattle rancher Bobby 'Bovine' McFeely. Bovine McFeely saber seventeen cows from the great floor." She beams at the memorial.

"Hey, kid. Gum?" Leonard Snart offers a piece of gum to an evidently bored kid, who takes a piece gratefully before Leonard consumes a piece of gum to, chewing with a confident smirk as they're lead up a flight of steps.

"And over here we have this impressive exhibit which, whilst only arriving quite recently comes all the way from New Zealand." She leads them toward a glass case filled with ornate swords.

"Centuries old…" The woman begins to tell the story of the antique swords whilst Leonard takes note of where they are and the cases they're in.

"And now for the exhibit I'm sure, you've all come here to see…" The woman continues as they all move on to the main exhibit.

"The historic Kahndaq Dynasty Diamond." She reveals it to them.

"Be careful, get too close and you'll set off the proximity alarms." She warns them as a sly smile crosses Leonard's face as he glances to the boy he'd given gum to.

"Wouldn't want to do that."

 _Jitters_

Meanwhile at Jitters, whisper a bemused Eddie and Iris look on, Felicity and Barry are engrossed in answering the questions.

"Three is Pasteur." Barry remarks.

"Mm-mm. Three is Erdel and four is Pasteur." She corrects him.

"Right." Barry gives in as she swipes her finger across the iPad.

"Five?" She enquires, the two off them looking toward one another.

"Descartes!" They both cry simultaneously.

"Are they even speaking English?" Eddie nervously asks Iris what he believes to be, a relevant question as the sound of a bell rings out.

"And the points go to… E=MC Hammer!" The presenter cheers as Barry and Felicity share a high five with one another.

"I knew you two would make a good team." Iris beams at them both as Barry and Felicity, still looking at one another, nod in agreement.

"So, Felicity, what do you do?" Eddie asks her kindly.

"Well, I used to work in computer sciences at Queen Consolidated yet now I work in the company next door to them, Palmer Technologies." Felicity says in response to his question.

"Really?" Eddie nods, impressed.

"Do you have a boyfriend in Starling City? A little birdy told me you have an admirer." Iris smirks at her as Felicity glowers at Barry.

"Would that little birdy be Barry?" She enquires.

"What? It's the truth." Barry shrugs as Felicity turns back to Iris.

"Well, in answer to your question. No, no there is no one and for Barry's information, that didn't work out." Felicity replies.

"Really?" Barry's eyes widen as Felicity nods.

"I'll get us some more drinks." Eddie says after a moment.

"And I, had too many of those first ones, so I will be right back." Felicity says as she too disappears, leaving Barry and Iris alone.

"What?" Barry starts when Iris gives him a look.

"Dude!" Iris playfully slaps his arm.

"Dude? What?" Barry frowns in confusion.

"Are you still gonna tell me that she's not into you? Look at that dress! And when I asked her the boyfriend question, she froze." Iris points out.

"Yeah, you were particularly sly with that one and she froze probably because, like she said, it didn't work out with the person she actually wants to be with!" Barry protests.

"Felicity is smart, nice and pretty and most importantly she is the first girl that I have seen you with that really understands and appreciates you for the amazing person that I am always telling you that you are. She's perfect for you." Iris gushes with a slight shakes of her head as she asks her next question.

"So, what are you waiting for, Barry?"

Barry knows he would be lying to himself if he said that the first thought that popped up into his head wasn't Caitlin Snow...

 _STAR Labs_

Standing in front of an empty cage, a fearful look crosses Cisco Ramon's face as Wells glares at him from behind.

"How long have they been missing?" Wells enquires.

"I don't know." Cisco responds nervously.

"I'm going to ask you again, Cisco and when I do, I expect a more specific answer then 'I don't know'. Now how long have these weapons been gone?" Wells snarls.

"A day, maybe two. One janitor didn't show up for work this morning. He was probably the one that took them. I didn't think that…" Cisco is cut off by Wells slamming the door to the now empty cage shut both Cisco and Caitlin now looking anxious.

"You didn't think. Because if you had, you would've discussed with me first your desire to build things that could hurt anyone and in particular, Barry Allen!" Wells yells.

"I'm sorry. If you just let me explain…"

"You know how I feel about weapons, Cisco, they do not belong in STAR Labs. Now, you're gonna figure out a way to locate these guns and you are gonna do it right now." Wells hisses before wheeling out of sight.

"These things you built what can they do?" Caitlin asks anxiously once Wells has left.

"Bad stuff."

 _Central City Museum_

"You said to call if there was anything suspicious. This guy went through the tour twice." A security guard speaks to Joe West.

"Nobody does that."

Looking over the balcony at the man the security guard had pointed out, Joe soon comes to the realization that it is Leonard Snart.

"This is Detective West. I have a visual on Leonard Snart at the museum, requesting immediate backup!" Joe yells through his radio as he races down the corridor…

 _Jitters_

A buzzer sounds as E=MC Hammer gets a question wrong, courtesy of Eddie Thawne.

"I'm sorry, I thought I knew it. I got excited and I just hit it." Eddie apologizes as Iris, Barry and Felicity look at him in horror.

"Well, maybe they'll get it wrong too." Barry shrugs as Felicity laughs.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that the team named Pride and Padawans doesn't know the name of Han Solo's ship." Felicity glances toward the team that is dressed exactly like the characters from Star Wars that have got the question right and are waving their lightsabers in joy.

"Oh, honey, you are so cute when you're confused." Iris turns to kiss Eddie.

"I'm just horrified he didn't know that the Millennium Falcon was Han Solo's ship." Barry whispers to Felicity.

"Hey, I haven't seen Star Wars for years!" Eddie protests as Iris kisses him again.

"Yeah, Barry. Don't be mean." Iris laughs lightly.

"And please don't tell Julian. He'll never let me forget it." Eddie begs.

"Ohh I'm sure he would…"

"Barry, you and Julian watch the entire collection of Star Wars movies practically every other week. Julian would never let him live it down." Iris points out as Barry and Felicity laugh between themselves just before Eddie's phone begins to bleep.

"Someone spotted Snart. I gotta go."

"Snart?!" Felicity exclaims, her blood running cold at the mention of her friends last name.

"Yeah. Leonard Snart. He's this criminal, thief. He's at the museum. We're going to take him down." Eddie assures them all before heading to the door, Barry and Felicity getting up too.

"I'll cover for you." Felicity tells him, phone in hand, prepared, once Barry has left to phone Leonard and ask him what the hell is going on.

"What are you gonna say?" Barry questions.

"I usually tell people that Oliver and Sara are at a nightclub or nursing hangovers, or just together and general and that Slade's either at the gym or with a woman."

"None of which will work for me." Barry replies.

"Bad stomach ache. Really bad diarrhea. I used that one once for Roy when…"

"Yeah, I'm not comfortable with that excuse." Barry winces.

"Just go!" Felicity shouts as Barry zooms away.

"Stay safe!" She calls after him before groaning.

"And I'm talking to air now, which is odd and I'm still doing it!" She cries as she delves into her purse for her phone, quickly dialing a number.

"Leonard Snart." Felicity starts when the call connects.

"Felicity. I'd love to chat but I'm kinda in the middle of something right now."

"Yeah and the police know that. They're coming and I think there's something else coming after you to."

"The Streak." Leonard sighs.

"Len you have got to get out of there. They will take you down and if you get arrested here. I don't know if Slade will be able to save you." Felicity hisses.

"I'll be just fine and besides, if this goes to plan. Slade will be happy with me. I've found an appropriate gift set for him."

"Len please. I don't want you to get hurt, or worse." She begs.

"Trust me, Felicity. I'll be fine. Now, I'll call you when this is all over." Leonard says before hanging up leaving Felicity in despair…

 _Central City Museum_

What with the arrival of the cops, Leonard knows if he stays to steal the diamond and the swords, the probability of him being captured is high so, he leaves the museum, pursued by Joe West as he does so.

Running across the road, Leonard slides over the bonnet of the car stylishly, still being pursued by Joe.

"SNART!' Joe yells as Leonard comes to a stand still, turning around slowly as a cop car approaches him, sliding on the glasses before firing the gun at the road beneath the car turning it to ice so that, the cop car slides across the road, almost running Joe over if he hadn't have jumped aside just as, Leonard, gun raised heads into the nearest theatre.

Getting to his feet and running after him, gun in hand. Joe chases him up a flight of steps, unable to see him, Joe looks around hurriedly, only to turn around just as Leonard is firing the cold gun at him.

The ice would have hit him if not for Barry, in his suit, zooming to intercept the icy blast which he is hit with instead, throwing him backwards.

Holding his gun up, Leonard smirks at the sight of the Detective and the Streak lying on the ground from his well aimed blast.

"You okay?" Joe calls over to Barry who, groans in pain.

"It burns." Barry cries out from the pain of the ice just as Snart fires his gun again, Barry zooming out of the way before it can hit, Leonard looking up to where he'd gone excitedly.

"Time for a test run." He announces.

"Let's see how fast you are!" He declares before firing the gun anywhere he can see the blur racing to and to the people around the area watching as the people are rushed away out of his line of fire and taken to safety.

Looking behind his shoulder, Leonard sees a security guard approaching him from behind, turning his arm in the right direction, he sends an icy blast at the man who holds out a gun of his own just as Barry, having seen it happen, races to catch up with the ice, the wound Snart had given him holding him back ever so slightly.

The ever so slightly part causing him not to be fast enough.

For the icy blast to hit the man, killing him instantly.

"NO!" Barry cries as he bends down beside the man he failed to save, Leonard Snart simply walking away, leaving Barry there, unable to move.

He wasn't fast enough.

 _STAR Labs_

"It's still numb." Barry admits to a worried Caitlin who stands beside him, glancing at the wound on Barry's side.

"It's presenting itself like third degree frostbite." Caitlin admits, resting a hand on Barry's shoulder who, looks up at her gratefully.

"I thought he had hyper healing." Felicity murmurs from where she is sat on a chair, looking once to Barry and back to her phone, waiting for Leonard to call.

She is so going to be having words with him about this.

"It's been slowed." Caitlin admits as she walks around Barry so she's right in front of him.

"If your cells weren't regenerating at the rate they are your blood vessels would have been frozen solid and the nerve damage would've been permanent. You're lucky to be alive." Caitlin points out as Barry nods, rest his free hand on his wrist.

"Thankfully I am."

"Yes." She nods, moving her hand from his shoulder as Barry gets to his feet.

"Snart wasn't another metahuman. He has some kind of gun. It froze things, it slowed me down. Enough that I wasn't able to save someone." Barry admits reluctantly.

"It wasn't your fault Barry. You saved a lot of other people. That's what you've got to remember here, okay?" Caitlin attempts to assure him.

"What do we know about Snart. Felicity. Do you have anything else on him?" Barry looks to her as Felicity shakes her head.

"No."

"You know, I get why he'd want to steal the diamond but why go for those swords I mean the diamond is worth two times the amount of them. I mean, yeah, they'd fetch a good price but why go to all that trouble to secure them two, I mean, he's obviously got a lot more power weapons than a sword at his command." Cisco points out.

"I don't think it's worth trying to understand why a thief wants to steal certain things." Felicity says quickly, biting her lip anxiously.

"How did he get that weapon though. He's just a criminal, a thief. I cannot believe he could build a high tech hand held gun of ice like that." Barry shakes his head.

"STAR Labs built the cold gun along with another gun, exactly like it but instead of ice shoots out iron that solidify's instantly upon hitting its target." Wells admits dryly.

"Dr. Wells and Caitlin had nothing to do with this. I built both of the guns." Cisco admits.

"You did? Why?" Barry looks at him in shock.

"Well, the first one. The gun that shoots iron. That was a prototype, the beginning of it all but for what I wanted it for, it had a few flaws so I added the ice because speed and cold are opposites." Cisco admits as Barry walks slowly towards him.

"Temperature is measured by how quickly the atoms of something are oscillating the faster they are, the hotter it is. When things are cold, they're slower on the atomic level. When there's no movement at all, it's called…"

"Absolute zero." Barry finishes for him.

"Yeah. After the first gun, I decided to design a compact cry engine to achieve absolute zero. I built these weapons to stop you." Cisco admits, wincing at the look on Barry's face.

"I didn't know who you were then, Barry. I. I mean, what if you turned out to be some psycho, like Martin or Nimbus?"

"I get that Cisco. I get why you would believe that but I didn't, did I?" Barry cuts in.

"Barry, we built the entire structure that you're standing in to do good and it blew up. Cisco wanted to be prepared for the worst." Caitlin moves toward him.

"I understand that. I do. I can completely understand the reasoning behind why Cisco did what he did but I can't understand why he didn't tell me what he did." Barry turns back to Cisco who looks down.

"I didn't think something like this would happen. I couldn't have foreseen Snart taking both of these guns."

"Wait. He's got both of the guns?!" Barry cries.

"Yes. They were both stolen. I'm surprised he wasn't using that one to." Caitlin notes.

"Perhaps he has a partner…"

"Cisco. After all that we've been through I thought you trusted me. I thought that we were friends." Barry cuts him off again.

"We are Barry, we are but I didn't know we would be friends and I certainly did not think those guns would ever see the light of day. I'm sorry." Cisco sighs.

"I get that I can understand your reasoning but Cisco, if I had known about the guns I could have been prepared. I mean when they were first stolen, you could have, any of you." Barry looks to Caitlin, Cisco and Wells.

"Could've called me and warned me about them and we could have had a discussion about it later after I'd stopped Snart. But instead someone died tonight." Barry reminds them.

"And I have to live with that." Cisco looks down.

"No, Cisco. We all do." Barry says before walking out of the room.

The silence broken by the sound of Felicity's phone ringing.

"I better take this." She says, before picking up her phone and moving hurriedly out of the room…

 _Later…_

Standing near the building she'd found him in before, Felicity glowers at Leonard when he saunter up to her in his blue parka.

"What the hell happened out there today Leonard Snart? You killed someone, you could've gotten yourself killed… You killed someone!" Felicity yells at him.

"Felicity. That guy had a gun. He would've shot me given the chance." Leonard points out.

"That's not the point Leonard…"

"Then what is the point, yes I killed the man but I am criminal. You know who I am and you had previously chosen to accept me for who I was. People die in my line of work. I try not to kill anyone if it's not one hundred percent necessary. It was necessary today alright? I mean, you can understand that. Look at the lengths you were prepared to go to to being Shado down. Not to mention, I heard about what Slade did to that guy who he believed had killed Nyssa and don't the vigilantes tend to stick to their no kill rule? I mean I know it's Slade but he tends to do what Queen wants him to and yet, he killed this man because it was necessary." Leonard reminds her.

"I know. I know and I do accept you Leonard, you're my friend, you know that but all this to get a diamond and a set of swords?" Felicity sighs.

"Criminal." Leonard reminds her.

"You're more than just a criminal, Len."

"Oh, really." Leonard tilts his head to the side.

"After what you did for Slade, for me, for all of us during the Siege. That showed all of us that you are more than just a criminal." Felicity points out.

"Because someone, several people, actually, that I cared about was in danger and I have a code. I protect my own." He murmurs.

"What are you planning on doing with the other gun?" Felicity questions.

"I actually have two more. Another one stolen from STAR Labs, as you know and another that fires flames." Leonard says, a smirk at his lips.

"Ohh god. If you're planning on giving that one to Mick…"

"Maybe." Leonard says, a secret smile at his lips.

"Is the third one for Lisa or for Slade?" Felicity folds her arms.

"The latter. Neither of the guns suit my sister." He remarks.

"Just be careful ok? You matter to a lot of people, Leonard. You matter to me. You're my friend." She says again, leaning against him slightly.

"And you're mine." Leonard replies.

"Which is why I don't want you to do anything stupid." Felicity sighs.

"How about I promise to try and not get caught?"

"How about you promise not to kill anybody?" Felicity follows up.

"Can we come to a mutual agreement on the word 'try'?" Leonard looks to her.

"Fine." Felicity mumbles as Leonard slings an arm around her shoulders.

"Perfect."

 **Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading, so sorry for the late update. I have so much work to be doing at college as its my last year and I've got all my exams at the start of next year so I'm doing so much work, coursework and everything so updates may take forever but I'm never giving up on this fanfic! Thank you all so much for your follows and favorites please leave a review if you can :)**


	12. Going Rogue (3)

_**I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners.**_

 _ **Chapter Twelve**_

 _West Residence_

Sat on the couch, Iris watches the news with her head resting on her hand.

"Theater goers remain shaken after surviving tonight's bizarre attack…" Iris is pulled away from the news by the sudden opening of the front door.

"The news, are you okay?" She questions worriedly as Joe walks in.

"I'm fine." He mutters bluntly.

"How long is this gonna go on?" Iris practically groans to silence from her father.

"It seems like the cold treatment is going around."

"Not now, Iris, please." Joe sighs.

"Yes now. You did the same thing when I tried to sign up for the police academy without telling you. You didn't speak to me for weeks, not until I withdrew my application. Well, I am not withdrawing this time, dad. I am dating Eddie, whether you like it or not." She says sharply and firmly.

"Eddie is my partner…"

"I know." Iris retorts.

"But you don't know. You're not a cop, you don't know what having a partner means. Wherever I go, he goes and where I go isn't always safe, Iris. I need to be one hundred percent focused. Now there's a part of me that isn't focused that doesn't see Eddie as my partner, but as your boyfriend so if he gets hurt or worse and I'm there. How am I gonna look at you?" He points out as Iris closes her eyes.

"How are you gonna look at me?" He continues as Iris glances back up at him.

"Now, I'm not mad at you but that's why this is so hard for me." He tells her.

"Do you understand?" He says, somewhat satisfied when Iris nods and slightly smiles.

 _Somewhere In Central City_

"We're going back tonight." Leonard Snart declares as, after meeting Felicity, he rejoins the people he's working with to discuss his plans.

"Back where?" One asks.

"To the museum. That diamond and those swords aren't gonna steal themselves." He mutters dryly.

"Super gun freeze your brain, Snart? The museum will be crawling with people and the Streak…"

"This can stop the Streak. It can hurt him and I know his real weakness, so we go, unless you want out." Snart comments in a warning tone, the two men behind him pulling out there guns, directing them at Leonard.

"We both want out, alive." Another says, his gun next to Leonard's head.

"So you thought I hadn't made a plan. At least I taught you something." He muses before sighing, the gun still to his head and his back to them.

"So, what are you waiting for? Shoot me. You better put a bullet in my brain right now because if you don't if I ever see either one of you again…"

"You don't get it, do you? This blur is out there. Central City ain't your playground anymore." His now ex associate snaps before he and the other one walk away, the gun still aimed at Leonard, who begins to look down at his own weapon, his cold gun.

"Sure it is."

 _STAR Labs_

"Barry!" Felicity calls as she approaches him.

"Barry!" She shouts when he ignores her and as she walks in front of him, he finally comes to a stop, glancing toward Felicity who stands in front of him.

"What are you doing? You should get back to your hotel. Get some sleep." He points out.

"You should too. Not go back to my hotel, I meant get some sleep." She winces as Barry sits down on the treadmill.

"I can't. Every time I close my eyes, I see that man's face. I watched him die. I have to go faster." Barry states before turning back to the treadmill.

"Barry, it's not your fault and it's not Cisco's either. Barry, I know you're upset but you have to look at it this from his point of view." Felicity points out.

"No, I get it. He didn't trust me." Barry mutters.

"Barry, when you met us me, Slade, Oliver, Sara and Dig. We were this well oiled machine but it didn't start out that way and unlike you guys we weren't tossed together overnight, we came together one at at time. Even Oliver, Sara and Slade. Oliver and Sara found Slade on an island they were deserted on and from everything they've told me. They didn't trust each other from the off, it took five years to build what they have. It almost broke them when Oliver and Sara chose to recruit Dig and Slade didn't want that and I only knew and got dragged into this because Oliver's mother decided to shoot Slade and Oliver and they nearly bled out and died in the backseat of my car and believe me it took much more than watching Slade do The Salmon Ladder and every workout I've ever watched him do to make me trust him." She says softly as Barry sighs, watching as Felicity walks toward the door.

"I've seen firsthand what this life can do to people. It's a lonely path, don't make it any lonelier than it has to be." Felicity smiles at him almost walking into Caitlin who approaches the door.

"Hey, Caitlin. I've already given him a talk but, if you want to give it a shot, go ahead." Felicity pats her shoulder as she watches Caitlin move into the room, sitting beside Barry, who glances down at her, an almost hopeful look on his face.

As she leaves the room, Felicity smiles.

She knows that look all too well after all.

"I'm not here to apologize for what's happened or tell you what we did was wrong because we didn't know what to expect Barry but. I am sorry that you've found out about it like this. We should have destroyed those things the instant we knew we could trust you." She sighs.

"You didn't make them. It's not your fault." Barry murmurs.

"No I didn't. I mean believe me Barry, I hate the cold. I hate ice so much it's unbelievable." Caitlin looks down at her hands.

"What?" Barry frowns.

"Nothing. I just. I do really hate ice and cold so, I never really liked the gun in the first place." She sighs as Barry rests his hands over her trembling ones.

"We're a team Barry, I know today hasn't been a great one for us all but we're still a team, you, me, Cisco and Dr. Wells and I know things are different now but really hope we can see past these differences because if all these weeks have taught me anything Barry." She sighs.

"We need each other. We somehow make each other better." Caitlin moves one of her hands to rest it over Barry's.

"And I liked that feeling." She admits as Barry nods, wanting in that moment to put his arm around her but resists the urge to. He agrees with her nethertheless.

"I liked that feeling to."

 _Central City Museum_

"FREEZE!" A guard yells as Leonard Snart approaches him.

"Wanna end up like that door?" He enquires, looking to the shattered icy fragments of the door he'd just blown off.

The guard simply runs away, allowing Leonard to walk up the steps.

Reaching the top floor, he destroys the casing around the swords, taking all of them before approaching the diamond, a mischievous grin on his face as he glances down at it.

"Hi, there."

 _STAR Labs_

"I figured out a way to track Captain Cold." Cisco announces as he walks through the door.

"You gotta stop naming these guys." Caitlin sighs but Felicity tilts her head to the side, the name kinda suits Leonard in her mind after all.

"Barry, listen to him." Wells commands as Barry turns to face him.

"How?" He grumbles.

"The cold gun is powered by an engine control unit, a microcomputer that regulates air to fuel ratio so the sub cooled fluid in the chambers don't overflow and…"

"Explode." Felicity finishes for him.

"Right. This ECU was receiving updates wirelessly from my tablet, if I boost the signal using a Central City's network and send a false update, we'll get a ping back and then…"

"We can locate Snart." Wells finishes.

"How long will it take?" Barry enquires.

"Uh, first, I have to hack into the city's network, so I don't know thirty minutes maybe?"

"I know that Miss Smoak can do it in less than one with her computer skills, Felicity?" Wells glances toward her as an anxious look crosses her face.

"Sure, yeah okay. When it comes to hacking, I'm the fastest woman alive." She smiles, cracking her fingers and groaning.

"Ah! That was not as badass as I pictured."

"So, hacking?" Wells looks to her.

"Sure, yeah. I'm in my own head. Give me a sec, Team Arrow, they got loads for me to do." She laughs nervously as she types a message into her phone as quickly as she can.

'People are after you. Ditch the gun and run. Like now.' She types to Leonard before reluctantly sitting down by her laptop and beginning to type.

"Alright, I'm in." She says, trying to sound confident whilst glancing to her phone to see if she's had a reply from Leonard.

"Are you kidding?" Caitlin looks impressed.

"Alright I'm sending the updates, we're connected." Cisco grins.

"Network is triangulating the location." Felicity points out reluctantly.

"We got him. He's heading west on Nelson toward the train station." Caitlin informs them.

"If he's leaving, it appears Mr. Snart may have gotten what he came for." Wells points out as Felicity begins to type another message.

'Ditch the gun. Now. Don't get on a train. Wait someplace, I'll meet you.'

"See. When we our minds to it, dude, nothing can stop us." Cisco cheers as Barry zooms into his suit, stopping to switch his comms off.

"Oh, you turned your earpiece off. How are we gonna talk to each other?" Cisco queries, Barry glares at him once before answering.

"I don't feel like talking right now." Barry mutters before zooming away…

 _Central City Train Station_

"All available units, suspect spotted at Central City Train Station." A woman says over the police comms as Eddie and Joe exit their car.

"We got Snart." Eddie says excitedly.

"Wait here for backup." Joe holds him back.

"Wait for backup? No way!" Eddie protests as Joe races away.

"That's an order."

 _STAR Labs_

"We need to go after Barry." Caitlin says firmly, getting to her feet.

"Caitlin, he said he wanted to do this alone. I know from first had experience when these kinds of people want to do things alone, they do things alone." Felicity points out.

"That's because he's upset and he's hurt but I was talking to him and I think he needs us out there right now and Felicity. When Team Arrow tell you to back off, do you back off really? Because you took me for the type to do anything for the people you care about." Caitlin points out.

"You do have a point. I have gone above and beyond to be there for them." Felicity bows her head slightly.

"Then we have to done something to help Barry. All of us." Caitlin protests.

"We have to have his back out there, he was neatly killed by Snart last time and I most certainly do not want him to finish the job." Caitlin says before storming off.

"You should probably go after her." Wells comments as Felicity and Cisco look between one another.

"I might even have something that can help." Cisco continues with a wide smile.

 _Central City Train Station_

Racing forward with his gun in hand, Joe spots Snart from a mile off. Yet as he corners him and he's about to fire Eddie appears from around the corner, shooting at Snart, who ducks and races way.

"I'm your partner, not your assistant." Eddie informs Joe sharply as Leonard boards a train, walking confidently down the corridor with his cold gun in hand.

On the platform, Joe and Eddie watch in horror as the train disappears off into the distance, only to be passed by a red blur who races toward the train at top speed, entering it just as Leonard is walking down the corridor, ending up in a crouched position just in front of him.

"There's no where to run!" Barry calls as Leonard raises his gun to Barry.

"I didn't see you before, your mom know you're out past your bedtime?" Leonard quips sarcastically as Barry smiles.

"If you wanted to get away, you should've taken something faster than a train."

"That's if I wanted to get away." Leonard replies with a confident smile of his own.

"I've seen your weakness at the armored car, then at the theater, so while you're busy saving everybody, I'll be saving myself." He informs Barry before abruptly freezing the floor of the train in front of them, which causes all the wheels of the train to freeze up. The passengers begin screaming as the lights begin to dim and the train rocks back and forth as Leonard opens the train door to make his escape.

"Good luck with that!" He calls before escaping the train which begins to tilt, the carriage Barry is in breaking off, causing it to flip.

Slowing everything down, Barry begins to speed every single person in the carriage out of it, getting each of them to safety. One woman is surrounded by glass, Barry immediately begins to move every shard of glass near her before zooming her to safety before finally freeing himself, throwing himself onto the ground.

Yet, lying on the ground his is immediately trapped there by a blast of ice from Leonard's cold gun.

"Pretty fast, kid. But not fast enough." Leonard smirks as he advances on Barry.

"Thank you." He starts, his gun held to Barry.

"For what?" Barry practically snaps.

"You forced me to up my game. Not only with this gun but how I think about a job. It's been educational. Ahh." He hisses as out of the blue an icicle rips past his arm.

"Stay. Away. From. Him." A voice hisses from behind him.

"Well that's a new one." Leonard drawls as he turns around to face his attacker.

"Caitlin?" Barry whispers in shock as she approached them, hands held out. Her eyes like crystals and cold icy air billowing from her hands.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss. I can assure you you're on the wrong side. Consider joining me, please. I'd love to get to know a woman with abilities like those." He grins as Caitlin advances on him.

"I said. Leave him alone, you can drop the gun whilst you're at it. I won't fire another warning shot." She says sharply.

"Really?" Leonard retorts.

"Maybe just one more." She mutters before firing ice from the palms of her hands near Leonard's feet, who steps back as Barry looks on in shock.

"Do you want another example of my power or are you going to lower the gun?" She questions.

"I think I'll just shoot you. I bet the ice in my gun will react with whatever icy powers you have and freeze you instantly." He places his finger on the trigger.

"NO!" Barry yells.

"Drop it!" Cisco suddenly yells from behind Caitlin as he and a reluctant Felicity step forth, a massive device held between them.

"This is a prototype cold gun, four times the size, four times the power." He threatens, Barry noticing how Caitlin's eyes return to normal and the ice disappears from her palms upon the arrival of the others.

"I was wondering who you were talking to." Leonard mutters.

"Hey, unless you want a taste of your own medicine, I'd back the hell up." Cisco threatens.

"Your hands are shaking. You've never killed anyone." Leonard retorts.

"There's a first time for everything, Captain Cold." Cisco snaps, Leonard grinning at the nickname.

"I will shoot you." Cisco continues as after a moment, Leonard moves his gun away from Barry.

"You win, kid. I'll see you around." He says before turning and walking away.

"Hey leave the diamond and the swords." Cisco calls.

"Don't push your luck." Leonard replies before disappearing, Caitlin racing to Barry's side the moment he is gone, Barry resting his hand over hers which are cold.

"We'll talk later." She mouths to him as Cisco and Felicity lower the 'weapon'.

"Couldn't shoot him if I wanted to. This is actually the STAR Labs vacuum cleaner with a lot of LED's." He chuckles.

"Let's get you warm." Felicity says as Barry reaches out for Cisco.

"Thank you." He smiles as he and Cisco shake hands, reaffirming their friendship…

 _STAR Labs_

"We've been trying to track Snart but he must have disconnected the signal somehow." Cisco mutters whilst looking at the computer, Felicity looking down at her hands, knowing that maybe Leonard knew how to do that from her. Like almost certain. She may have also sent him a message telling him to deactivate the others guns to that he has. He hadn't replied yet, she's guessing he might be a little mad with her for standing with Cisco, Caitlin and Barry.

"If he shows up in Starling City. Team Arrow can handle it, right?" Barry looks to Felicity.

"Yeah, already warned them to keep an eye out for him." She replies.

"We'll find him." Barry says firmly, before looking to Cisco and Caitlin.

"Together."

"You do have a great team here, Barry but speaking of teams. I should probably be getting back to mine." She smiles.

"It's been nice meeting you, Miss Smoak." Wells calls to her.

"Please extend a hello to the Arrow, the Black Canary and The Man In The Mask for us."

"I will." Felicity replies as Barry approaches her.

"Bye Felicity." He smiles.

"Bye Barry." She replies as they hug, Barry continuing to smile as he watches her go.

"Remarkable young woman." Wells comments.

"She's special." Barry nods.

"Yeah, she is." He says before looking to Caitlin.

"Cisco." Wells calls to him after a moment.

"Don't you ever." He grips Cisco's arm tightly.

"Do anything like that again, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Cisco replies, a nervous tone to his voice as Wells wheels himself away…

 _CCPD_

Glancing at Snart's mug shot, Joe begins to walk toward the door when he sees Iris approaching him.

"Hey, dad." She smiles.

"Hey." He says, embracing her.

"If you're looking for Eddie, he's having an argument with Julian in evidence." Joe informs her as they walk together.

"I am looking for you. I came to apologize again." She admits.

"You're really trying to hit that magic number aren't you?" Joe chuckles.

"Look, dad. I just want you to know that there is nothing you could do that would ever change the way that I look at you and I'm sorry. I should've thought how it would affect you if Eddie and I…"

"Listen. Chasing down this Snart character tonight he had the draw on me, Eddie saved my life. Maybe I underestimated him." Joe admits as Iris smiles at him.

"From now on, no more secrets." Iris smile as him as father and daughter embrace.

"No more secrets." Joe repeats before pulling away.

"Well, go see Eddie." He practically commands.

"Okay!" Iris smiles before practically skipping away.

"Thank him for watching out for your old man!" Joe calls as he watches Iris reach Eddie and embrace him tightly…

 _Train_

Sat, reading a news article on Barry saving the train on her tablet, Felicity nearly jumps five feet when Barry suddenly zooms into the seat in front of her, yelping loudly causing Barry to be almost overcome with laughter.

"Did I just yelp?" Felicity winces as Barry sniggers.

"Yeah." Barry nods.

"I yelped."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Barry admits.

"Don't tell me you're here to save me." Felicity says, putting down her tablet.

"Taking the train is still one of safest ways to travel."

"I thought that was airplanes." Felicity corrects him as Barry tilts his head to the side.

"So you and Caitlin then." She smiles.

"What? Me and Caitlin? There's no me and Caitlin." Barry snorts indignantly.

"Ohh come on, you have feelings for her. I can tell." Felicity notes as Barry fixes her with a stern stare.

"How did you know I had feelings for Caitlin?"

"It's the little things, you know. The way you linger on her when she isn't looking, how close you two got to one another when you had that conversation. The way you grin whenever she looks at you." Felicity points out with a smile.

"Quiet dreams you keep to yourself." She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.

"You mean like you and Slade?" Barry retorts as Felicity leans back.

"Takes one to know one." Barry smirks.

"Slade Wilson is a complicated man, Barry Allen." Felicity replies, looking down at her hands.

"And he doesn't want me."

"Really?" Barry gives her a skeptical look.

"Yeah and I can't blame him for not wanting to be with me. Literally every relationship he's been in has gone to hell." She points out.

"Similar to how I feel about Caitlin. When the particle accelerator blew up, it killed her fiancé. She's still healing from that. I can't…" Barry shrugs his shoulders, the two falling silent.

"What is wrong with us? We are perfectly perfect for each other." Felicity chuckles.

"Yet look at us, pining for Caitlin and Slade, people we can't have. Guess what they say is true, opposites do attract." Barry replies before leaning forward.

"If you ever need anything, I will race over in a heartbeat." Barry vows.

"Same, well as fast as I can run, which might take me a while but I will still come." Felicity adds, leaning forward as well.

"Bye Felicity." Barry says after a moment before leaning forward to kiss her cheek, zooming away a moment afterwards as Felicity glances out of the window, watching Barry run.

"Bye Barry." Felicity whispers before leaning back in her chair, reaching for her tablet again.

"Is this seat taken?" A familiar drawl pulls her attention.

"Len." Felicity starts as he walks toward her.

"Figured I'd catch the next train to Starling." Leonard says before facing her.

"Aren't you a conundrum, Felicity. Advising me whilst standing with my new enemy." Leonard fixes her with a cold stare as he drops his gun, the swords and two other boxes onto the ground beside her.

"Leonard, if I'd tried to stop them if I'd stood with you. They would have found out everything and their team are in allegiance with Team Arrow, which means they would have told Oliver everything and everything you have in Starling would have been taken from you and I didn't want that because despite everything I've seen from you today, you're still the man who was there for me, who trained me when I thought Slade had died. Worst case scenario Oliver would try to take you down, even worse, he could try and Sara and Slade would try to stop him and that could put a dent in there bond which is not something any of us want happening. I really tried to stall them, Leonard I did but I did what I had to do for all our sakes." Felicity protests as Leonard sighs.

"I figured it was something like that, which is why I am not angry at you. I mean, it was partially my own fault, I didn't give you many options and you did send me many messages after all." He points out looking over at her for a moment, before leaning forward and reaching for her hand.

"I do forgive you." He says as she takes his hand in hers.

"Yeah?" Felicity tilts her head to the side.

"Of course." Leonard smiles.

"That's what friends are for."

 _STAR Labs_

"Hey." Barry calls as he reaches Caitlin who stands just outside STAR Labs.

"Hey Barry." Caitlin starts softly, looking away from him when he reaches her.

"I'm guessing you probably want to know what happened out there." She sighs.

"Caitlin what did happen out there? I mean, thank you. Things would have probably gone badly for me if you hadn't have shown up but what what was that? The ice? Your eyes." He trails off, remembering how her eyes had looked like crystals.

"Barry, I don't know. All I know is that a few days after the accelerator explosion I woke up feeling cold. I thought I was ill or just feeling the loss of Ronnie but then sometimes in the mirror, I thought I could see someone else. My eyes changed and one day, after Ronnie's funeral, I broke down, I cried for hours and hours and I just remember gripping my kitchen counter and the next thing I knew it had turned to ice. I think I'm like you Barry. A metahuman. I've tried to ignore it, push them away. Today was the third time I let them out." Caitlin admits to him.

"Who else knows?" Barry questions.

"No one, just you. I couldn't tell the others, Cisco and Wells…"

"Why not? They're helping me, they'd help you to." Barry points out.

"Barry, it's how these powers make me feel that made me not want to say anything. When I use them, they make me feel like a different person. Someone cold. Heartless someone who's not me. I mean when I used them today to try and keep Snart away from you, I wanted to release them. I wanted to kill Snart, Barry. It's like I wanted to let them take control of me. I wanted them to help me kill Snart and I'm scared that if I fully acknowledge there presence, that they exist then… I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do to me." Caitlin admits.

"They're not going to do anything to you." Barry replies.

"You don't know that. I don't know that. What if I kept using them and I became like Mardon or Nimbus? Barry I couldn't live with myself if I hurt anyone with these powers."

"Then why use them today?" Barry enquires.

"Because you were in danger and I needed to save you." She admits.

"I wouldn't have let Snart kill you Barry."

"I know you wouldn't." Barry says softly.

"Can we. Can we keep this between us. I don't want Cisco and Wells to know." Caitlin requests as Barry nods.

"Of course. I won't say anything." He promises her.

"Thank you Barry." She smiles at him sadly before allowing him to pull her into a tight embrace.

An embrace he never wants to have to pull away from…

 _Queen Mansion_

Sat in a reclining chair, a man creates a flame with a match.

"I know it's been awhile since we pulled that job. I know it didn't go so well for you and I know I said we were finished but things have changed. If I wanna keep working in Central City, I'm gonna need a new kind of crew. I'm gonna need someone like you." Leonard informs the man as he passes him a case.

"You're tolerant of extremes, you have certain skills. You just need some direction and I can give that to you." He opens the case.

"You still like playing with fire? You're gonna love this." He smiles as his friend lifts the gun that shoots the fire out of the box.

"So, are you in Mick, or are you out?" He enquires.

"Yeah buddy, I'm in." Mick replies with a grin and a chuckle.

"Let's take this thing for a spin."

"Not in here." Leonard sighs.

"Ah, yes." Mick nods before lowering the weapon.

"You sure you want me, Snart. I know we haven't done jobs together since that one."

"I am, it's time we started working together. We both did excellent work during the Siege together and I have missed working with you, despite our disagreements." Leonard responds as the door is kicked open.

"Now what would that be?" Slade Wilson asks as he enters his room with a pack of beers.

"Some new toys."

"I've been hearing about your new toys on the news, despite Felicity's best attempts to keep me from it." Slade retorts sharply.

"Can this all go under our don't ask, don't tell policy?" Leonard smiles.

"I suppose, yet, seeing as Felicity was in attendance. I think we should have a word…"

"I brought you presents." Leonard cuts him off, walking towards him with the bag of swords.

"Leonard Snart these better not be those stolen swords…"

"Centuries old and originated from your home country of New Zealand? Yes they are." Leonard smirks triumphantly as Slade raises one of the swords.

"I should teach you how to use one and let you keep one."

"Ooh matching swords. That sounds like fun. Seeing as we are partners in crime."

"Don't push it." Slade murmurs.

"Oh I'm just going to push it just a little bit further. I know you're adamant that your allegiance is to Queen but, if you ever get sick and tired of him and you need a change of scenery, or just want a new job I…"

"Len, you've asked me to join you before. You know what my answer is going to be." Slade points out.

"Yes but, this time. I'm asking officially and have brought something for you, just in case you decide you want to join Mick and I in Central City." Leonard taps another case.

"What's in there?" Slade enquires.

"Have a look." Leonard suggests as Slade opens it, lifting the heavy gun with ease.

"It's the same design to mine but instead of ice, it fires iron in liquid form which solidify's upon being shot at a target, it can trap the target, encase said target in iron even." Leonard informs him.

"This could be useful." Slade notes.

"Especially if you chose to join us." Leonard grins.

"I think I'll get back to you on that one." Slade replies before passing Mick and Leonard a bottle of beer each before sitting beside Leonard on the couch.

"It's good to see you both again, I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the two of you out there today." Leonard comments as Slade and Mick glance to him in agreement.

"Also, what's the opinion on my new code name. Captain Cold? I think I quite like it."

"We can discuss that one after a few of these." Mick rolls his eyes whilst holding up his bottle of beer, the three men smirking at one another as there bottles meet in the middle with a resounding 'clink'.

 **Authors Note: Thank you all so much for reading, I'm sorry if this chapter was bad after seeing Leonard in the crossover trailer I was just desperate to write Leonard fanfic and so I did so I apologize if this chapter is a bad one but thanks for reading. Next update won't be for a while probably I mean I'll try and get more chapters out its just hard to juggle writing FanFiction with studying for my A-Levels. Thanks all for reading and please review if you can :)**


	13. Plastique (1)

**_I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners._**

 ** _Chapter Thirteen_**

 _A Bar In Central City_

How often do you think about why your friends came into you life? Was it random, by design, or maybe a little bit of both? Barry ponders as he looks across as his best friend Julian stood beside his sister in all but blood, Iris, her boyfriend Eddie and his newest of friends Cisco and Caitlin as they drink and play darts..

Regardless of the reason, some friends, you just know are gonna be by your side for a while and then there's that one friend who, well, you hope someday becomes something more. Barry thinks as he looks to Caitlin, smiling widely at her.

But friend will have to do for now and that's okay, I guess, he thinks to himself as Iris walks towards him.

"I'm glad you invited Caitlin and Cisco." She remarks.

"They're cool, right?" Barry nods.

"They saved your life Barry. That makes them the coolest people I have ever met. Look, even Julian doesn't mind them because of that and he is the most antisocial person I have ever met." She laughs.

"You got that right." Barry smirks.

"It's nice that you guys became friends." She adds, patting his arm.

"You listening to me?" She enquires.

"Yeah, sorry." Barry smiles, he'd been glancing over at Caitlin again, thinking of how pretty her smile is when Cisco told her a joke of some kind. Iris gasps.

"Bartholomew Henry Allen."

"No." Barry groans, resting his head on the table as Iris cackles.

"You like Caitlin?" She whispers.

"Iris West. I swear to god…"

"Ohh my god Barry, you do! No wonder you wouldn't ask Felicity out. You like Caitlin!" She practically cheers.

"Could you say that any louder?" Barry asks in a sarcastic voice.

"Does she know?" Iris whispers.

"No, of course not and anyway I'm not saying I ever do like her…"

"Barry. You forget how long we've known and lived with one another. You like her." Iris continues as Barry starts slamming his head repeatedly against the bar.

"Iris. Just, drop it." Barry practically begs.

"I am so not ever going to drop this one Barry." She grins.

"But, for you, I will for tonight." She adds, before raising a glass.

"To friends, old and new." She says before the two down there shot glasses.

"Just to let you know, if you want any advice on asking her out, or anything. You know who to come to." Iris grips his arm.

"Why do I get the feeling like you're just going to start giving me advice on that whether I ask for it or not?" Barry sighs.

"Because, Barry. I want you to be happy and after a nine month coma you deserve to be happy and Caitlin." She glances to her.

"Is a wonderful woman." Iris says approvingly and Iris's seal of approval makes Barry smile.

"Anyway, I'm up, wish me luck." She says before practically skipping towards the dart board where Julian has just finished beating Eddie.

"Please tell me you all were witnesses to that?" Julian glances around.

"Yep we were." Cisco grins as Barry nods as Julian and Eddie start squabbling about the dart march between the two of them, a squabble Iris abruptly shatters

"I am going to destroy both of you." She rips the darts from Eddie's hands with a confident smirk.

"Don't get cocky, West." Eddie warns her as she begins to throw the darts, Julian and Eddie watching on in horror as she beats both of their scores by a mile, whilst Barry heads toward the table where Cisco and Caitlin are.

"Guys, I have a problem." Barry whispers to Caitlin and Cisco so as to not attracted the attention of Julian, Eddie or Iris.

"Are you alright?" Caitlin asks anxiously.

"Watch." Barry says before using his super speed to down all the shot glasses on the trey he had carried over.

"I can't feel anything." He whispers.

"Yeah, that's usually what happens when you drink too much." Cisco sniggers.

"No, the alcohol is not affecting me. I mean, I literally feel nothing." Barry admits.

"It's your hypermetabolism. I need a sample." Caitlin says, suddenly excited.

"I'll get more shots." Cisco moves from the table.

"I swear I had a vacutainer in here." Caitlin muses as she rummages through her bag.

"Wait, you carry a blood collection kit in your purse?" Barry frowns at her.

"You have your hobbies."

 _Somewhere In Central City_

"Fourteenth floor, secure." A security guards in a high rise building calls through his comms.

"Roger that." Another guard replies, just as said guard comes across a red headed woman rummaging through a file cabinet.

"Hold off on that check." He murmurs as the woman turns her head in the man's direction, the man edging forward with his gun, just as the woman suddenly races past him.

"Lock down the building!" He yells through his comms.

"Hold it!" The yells to the woman.

"Don't come near me." She warns the man.

"You need to come with me. Come on." The guard beckons her over.

"Get down!" She calls as she drops her backpack and runs toward the window.

Suddenly, an explosion takes out the top floor of the building…

 _Meanwhile…_

Clinking their shot glasses together, Barry, Caitlin and Cisco down their drinks.

"Still nothing?" Cisco glances to him.

"No. I can't get drunk. I mean, I'm only twenty five and my drinking days are already over." Barry groans miserably.

"Come on Allen, you're up." Eddie calls.

"I can't wait to see this." Julian adds with a smirk just as Eddie and Cisco's phones begin to buzz loudly.

"There was a bombing on Eighth and Pass." Eddie murmurs.

"I gotta go, babe." He turns to say goodbye to Iris.

"Okay." She nods, kissing him goodbye.

"Sorry, guys." Eddie apologizes to them before leaving.

"I better go and open up the lab. I'll see you down there." Julian pats Barry's shoulder.

"I've got an early shift at Jitters, Barry, we'll catch up tomorrow." Iris calls as Barry, Caitlin and Cisco all fake yawns of their own.

"It's getting late anyway,so I'm just gonna…" Barry trails off before speeding away…

 _Later…_

Reaching the site of the bombing at top speed, Barry looks up at the high rise that had been attacked by the bomb, only to see a window cleaner dangling dangerously from their broken platform.

"Guys, there's a window washer and he's gonna fall." Barry calls through his comms.

"Don't try and catch him. You don't have super strength." Cisco points out.

"Well, is there like a bed store near here? What if I get mattresses and stack them?" Barry enquires, desperate to find the solution to this problem.

"Barry, this isn't a road runner cartoon." Caitlin sighs.

"Help! Help!" The window cleaner yells. Barry knows he has to act fast.

"How fast would I need to go to run up the side of a building?" He questions.

"How far up would you need to go?" Cisco frowns.

"Uh, I don't know. Fifty meters, give or take." Barry winces as he watches the window cleaner cry out again and struggle to hang on.

"Ok. Thirty two point fifty seven…" Cisco begins to calculate.

"Guys hurry!" Barry yells urgently.

"Just run really fast and you'll be fine." Caitlin assures him.

"But, you do need to maintain velocity on the way down or…"

"Or what?" Barry calls when she stops.

"Splat." Comes her reply.

"Great." Barry groans, directing his attention toward the window cleaner when he yells for help again.

"Alright, alright, alright." Barry whispers, preparing himself for what he's about to do.

"Here it goes." He says before beginning to run at top speed, racing up the side of the building as fast as he possibly can, grabbing a hold of the window cleaner just as the platform collapses, running back down the building and getting the man to safety.

Yet, as he begins to speed away he sees that, in front of him, is none other than Iris West...

Quickly, Barry uses his speed to blur his face before Iris can recognize him before speeding away…

 _Central City: Next Morning_

"Barry, Julian, what have you got?" Joe West asks the next morning as Barry and Julian analyses the scene of the crime.

"Well, those who decide to bomb a place, usually have their own unique signatures, crimped wires, fragmentation." Julian lists.

"The level of sophistication is telling once we've analyzed it." Barry adds.

"You show us a bomb and we can find a clue in it." He folds his arms.

"Sounds like there's a 'but' coming." Joe sighs.

"That there is, we haven't found any hint of an oxidizing agent. From what I can tell, it appears as if the floor literally just blew itself up." Julian informs him.

"And yet, things don't just blow up." Barry points out.

"No, they don't." Joe agrees.

"Security guard said our bomber was a woman, red hair. Also cut the security cameras. There's no footage." Eddie says upon approaching the three.

"So basically, nothing useful from you, then." Julian mutters.

"Actually, Albert, there's this." Eddie beckons them over.

"Some kind of small charge blasted the doorknob off." He leads them into a room which is filled with file cabinets.

"Any idea what's missing?" Joe enquires.

"My guess is one of these files. It will take days to figure out which one." Eddie replies.

"Let's let Barry do his thing." Joe suggests before leading both Eddie and Julian out, leaving Barry alone in the room of files.

Using his speed, Barry flicks through each of the files in the cabinet at a rapid pace, going through each file until finally, he find the correct cabinet…

 _CCPD_

"What's going on?" Eddie questions as he enters the CCPD.

"I have no idea but they came in here like they owned the place. Been talking to Singh for the last half hour." An officer informs Joe and Eddie as they eye the military men stood inside and outside Singh's office.

"This can't be good." Joe sighs as Singh exits his office, a man behind him.

"General Eiling. This is Detective West." Singh introduces them.

"Detective." Eiling notes as he and Joe shake hands.

"What's this all about?" Joe queries.

"The army's taking over the bombing investigation." Singh informs him.

"I'll need everything you have. Physical evidence, photographs, witness interviews, notes."

"I've been on the job nearly twenty years, never heard of the army investigating anything civilian." Joe cuts the general off.

"Well, it's not civilian. She's one of ours." The general replies.

"We'll send over everything we've got." Joe nods in acceptance.

"Very kind of you. I think, we'll take it now, though." The General responds.

"Give them what they want Joe." Singh commands quietly as the General smirks.

"You heard him, Joe. Give me what I want."

 _Meanwhile…_

"Don't drop it." Julian smirks as Barry trips slightly upon stepping outside the elevator.

"I wasn't gonna drop it." He protests, the two friends laughing as Joe approaches them along with the military personnel.

"Hey. What's going on?" Barry frowns as he and Julian stop in front of them.

"General Eiling is relieving us from the bombing case." Joe informs them with a sign.

"Give these men everything that's relevant."

"Seriously?" Julian folds his arms.

"Yeah." Joe nods.

"Sure thing then." Barry replies before handing the box in his hands over, not before he snatches a piece of paper from it without anybody seeing him do so.

"There's some stuff up in the lab, suppose I better fetch that then." Julian mutters.

"I'll be with you in a minute." Barry calls before showing Joe the paper once Julian is out of its line of sight.

"You and a few civilians from STAR Labs might wanna check into that." Joe murmurs as Barry nods.

"I think we might." Barry says before walking away.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Joe?" An officer calls, causing Joe to look up.

"It's about Iris."

 _West Residence_

"Hey, dad. You're home early." Iris smiles as her father walks into the house.

"What were you doing at the bomb site last night?" He asks her, Iris sighing instantly.

"Don't deny you were there. Officer Vukovich saw you." He says quickly.

"It's complicated." Iris replies.

"You can't be coming to every crime scene because you're worried about Eddie. He's a big boy, Iris." Joe says gently.

"I didn't go there to see Eddie. I… I went there to see the Streak." She admits.

"The Streak." Joe starts as he sets his bag down.

"Hmm, what is that?"

"My blog. I've been collecting posts about the Streak sightings and writing about them." She says with a beaming smile.

"Baby, there's no Streak." Joe lies to her.

"Yes there is. I saw him last night, dad. I looked right at him. Something incredible is happening in Central City and I'm gonna write about it." Iris says determinedly.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to get to work." She moves to hug him.

"Blogging about supernatural events doesn't really pay well." She laughs before leaving the house and a Joe in despair behind.

 _STAR Labs_

"A VA file number is all the info you have on the bomber?" Cisco questions in surprise.

"CCPD's been ordered off the case." Barry admits.

"Well, who has the power to do that?" Caitlin frowns.

"The army. Yeah, some General, his name was Eiling, I think." Barry replies with folded arms.

"General Wade Eiling." Wells announces as he wheels into the room.

"You know him?" Barry looks to him.

"Yes, I know him about ten years ago, General Wade Eiling contracted STAR Labs to develop enhanced gene therapies for soldiers. I was interested in the potential medical benefits for civilians. General Eiling really wanted to develop mind reading capabilities for interrogation purposes. I stopped the study when I was his techniques up close but our split was less then amicable." Wells informs them all.

"He took the evidence Julian and I collected on the bombing, everything but the folder." Barry hands it to him.

"Well, lucky for us, the VA finally joined the new millennium and digitized their records." Cisco says whilst turning to his computer, typing quickly.

"A lot of redacted info, but our girl's name is Bette Sans Souci, an EOD specialist for the army." He reports.

"EOD?" Caitlin frowns.

"Bombs." Cisco informs her.

"Is there an address?" Barry requests

"Hold on, here we go. One person in case of emergency: Cameron Scott, Anglewood ." Cisco tells him. Barry already looking towards his suit…

 _Somewhere In Central City_

Upon receiving the address from Cisco, Barry races down the streets of Central City in order to get to the place.

Meanwhile, at said place, Bette Sans Souci is already making her way down a flight of stairs, walking down the street until Barry appears right in front of her.

"Bette Sans Souci?" He asks as she immediately breaks into a run.

Sighing to himself, Barry speeds so he's stood in front of her, cutting her off.

"I need you to come with me." He states firmly.

"Don't touch me, please." She begs when Barry reaches for her arm, he ignores her warning anyway and grabs her arm, yet as she pushes him off of her, her hand makes contact with the emblem on his chest.

"Get whatever you're wearing off of you!" She instructs as Barry looks down at the mass of purple substance that is beginning to form on his suit from where she had touched it.

"Hurry!" She cries, Barry racing away from her.

She watches the explosion from afar as a now predominantly naked Barry zooms out of the fiery blaze, a look of shock etched onto his face.

 _STAR Labs_

"Barry, can you hear me? Barry?" Cisco calls worriedly through the comms.

"There must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he's not answering." Caitlin says, trying to remain calm when, really she isn't.

"BARRY!" She yells through the comms moments later just, as he arrives suddenly, tugging on a grey t-shirt as he approached them both.

"Uh…" Caitlin tilts her head to the side, a frown forming on her face.

"Don't even ask." Barry groans.

"Well, I'm gonna ask. Where's my suit?" Cisco questions as Barry looks away.

"It's gone." He admits, not sure if he should look at Cisco at this moment in time.

"What do you mean, it's gone? What did you do with my suit?" He asks in a stern tone.

"It blew up, dude." Barry says in a matter of fact tone.

"Wait, it blew up? And you were in it? Are you okay?" Caitlin asks worriedly.

"I am thank you." Barry nods gratefully as Cisco just looks horrified.

"Because you know, I managed to get out of it before it went kaboom." He mutters.

"Thank god for that. I mean, Cisco it's only a suit. You can make another one. You can't make another Barry." Caitlin points out.

"But my suit went kaboom?" Cisco continues.

"Yep it did, fun fact about Bette Sans Souci, she's not carrying bombs. She touched the emblem on the suit and turned it into a bomb. She's a metahuman…"

"With the ability to cause spontaneous combustion upon tactile contact." Wells fills in for them as he wheels into the room.

"She blew up my suit!" Cisco protests again.

"Ohh my god Cisco, you have like three more and as I said, you can always make another one!" Caitlin groans.

"Okay, I have two and I loved that one." Cisco grumbles.

"All right, Cisco's obsession for the suits aside, what seek do we know about her?" Barry questions with a sigh.

"Oh, I don't know, that she's pure evil? We're gonna find this girl and send her butt into the pipeline. No one blows my tech to smithereens and gets away with it." Cisco grumbles as he pulls a picture of Bette Sans Souci up on his computer screen.

"Unless she looks like that." He says, sitting down, a little dazed as Barry and Caitlin roll their eyes at him simultaneously.

"I don't think she meant to hurt me." Barry admits.

"Or her being a metahuman explains General Eiling's interest in her."

"If she didn't mean to hurt me, she probably can't control her abilities. I mean, she did look like she was afraid…" He trails off, eying Caitlin for a moment.

"Could be." She nods in agreement.

"She could be worried that they're controlling her." She notes softly, her mind flickering to thoughts of her own terrifying abilities.

"Whole thing also explains why Eiling stole the case from us." Joe West calls from the door as he saunters into the room.

"He didn't want anyone to know what she could do."

"Detective." Wells addresses him politely.

"Doctor." Joe responds in a similar tone.

"So, human bomb, must be Tuesday in Central City." He murmurs.

"Yes, and General Eiling's not one to give up a potential asset without a fight." Wells sighs.

"We have to find her before he does then." Barry states.

"Barry, can I see you for a second?" Joe requests in a tone Barry knows all too well.

Following Joe out into the corridor Barry turns to face him.

"When were you planning on telling me that Iris saw The Streak?" He questions.

"That was not planned. She caught me off guard." Barry says truthfully.

"We had a deal. You keep her in dark about metahuman sand I don't go Floyd Mayweather on you." Joe reminds him sternly.

"Okay, Joe. I know…"

"And she's writing this blog now!" Joe adds.

"I already talked to her about that." Barry protests.

"Talk to her again and be more convincing." Joe says strictly as Barry nods.

"Okay." He says with a sigh but Joe doesn't move.

"You mean right now?" Barry tilts his head to the side.

"Yes I do." Joe retorts sharply as Barry simply speeds away…

 **Authors Note: I am so, so, so incredibly sorry for not updating sooner and that regrettably the next update probably won't be for ages either. I'm in my second year at college, I do four subjects and my final exams are in less than six months probably even five now. So, if I don't update for ages then it's because of the importance of my exams as I need good grades to get into University but, none of that means that I am or will ever abandon this story because I'm not going to. I appreciate every single one of you that read, follow and favorite this story and I hate to keep you all waiting for updates like this, it's just absolutely hectic with college right now. Trust me, I want to to update this story. I love writing FanFiction. So, I hope you guys can understand why updates might take a while, I just think you all deserve an explanation, please tell me what you all thought of this chapter and thanks so much for reading :)**


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